The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges vaccination against pneumonia, even if it does not help the current surge in cases

Doctors’ offices and hospitals reported this. surge in pneumonia cases in Maryland and across the country since late summer. So it seems just in time that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending vaccination for more people.

The pneumonia vaccine is now recommended for people over 50, down from 65. It covers about 20 types of bacterial pneumonia, but not the one that is common now – mycoplasma pneumonia. And the target of the CDC’s vaccination efforts is not the bulk of those sickened by this wave, but mostly children.

So what gives?

The advice is something of a coincidence in timing, said Dr. Gregory Schrank, an infectious disease physician at the University of Maryland system and an assistant professor at the affiliated university’s medical school.

Current state and national health data show that children do get mycoplasma pneumonia. But in the last couple of years, 50-year-olds have also begun to suffer from pneumococcal pneumonia.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saw the data go in the wrong direction after COVID,” he said of pneumococcal pneumonia after years of decline. “They had an incentive to reconsider their recommendations about who should get the vaccine.”

There is no vaccine against mycoplasma pneumonia. But there are recently approved vaccines that target the bacteria that causes pneumococcal pneumonia. The infections may seem similar, giving people the same terrible flu-like symptoms, but the latter can also lead to complications including bloodstream infections and meningitis, or potentially fatal inflammation of the brain or spinal cord.

The reasons for the upward trend in the COVID era have not been entirely clear. But the number of infections rose sharply among people aged 5 and younger, as well as among people aged 65 and older, and among people aged 50 to 64, although most of the latter group had risk factors such as chronic heart or lung disease or diabetes.

The CDC said that because many people over age 50 have some type of health problem, officials advised them all to get vaccinated instead of analyzing which conditions require additional protection.

In a statement, the CDC said simply lowering the age simplifies recommendations and should “improve vaccination coverage among adults aged 50 to 64 years, including those at risk.”

This can be lifesaving because pneumococcal pneumonia kills 1 in 20 older adults who get it and 1 in 6 who develop meningitis or bloodstream infections.

Dr. Raymond Zollinger, vice president of medical affairs at Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, said the recommendations are still new, only adopted Oct. 23, so Hopkins officials will review the information before they begin recommending the vaccine to certain patients.

He said they will also allow enough time to make sure insurance companies cover the cost of the shots, which they typically do following the CDC’s recommendation. In this case, it will be a one-time purchase, providing coverage for many years, rather than seasonally.

“We have already vaccinated people 65 and older, as well as younger people with certain conditions,” he said.

And while the timing of the CDC recommendation can be confusing because there is another form of pneumonia, it can also be helpful. They said people should still talk to their doctors about seasonal flu, RSV and COVID vaccines.