On February 15, 2022, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorized the use of Pfizer’s 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20) under the brand name APEXXNAR®. The vaccine is approved in the European Union (EU) for active immunization for the prevention of invasive disease and pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumonia in individuals 18 years of age and older.

Anyone can become ill with potentially serious infectious respiratory diseases, including invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia. However, adults who are 65 years of age or older are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia than adults younger than 50.^1,2 Pneumococcal disease is also a major cause of communicable disease morbidity and mortality in Europe and the rest of the world.³

“APEXXNAR is the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help protect adults against the 20 serotypes responsible for the majority of invasive disease and pneumococcal pneumonia. It offers the broadest serotype protection of any available pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Europe and is a testament to our ongoing commitment to help protect patients against certain potentially serious infectious respiratory diseases," said Luis Jodar, Infectious Disease and Evidence Generation, Chief Medical Affairs Officer, Pfizer.

APEXXNAR helps address the burden of pneumococcal disease in adults and is one example of Pfizer’s growing vaccine portfolio.