Key Points

• Increase in the incidence rate of invasive pneumococcal infections in 2022 (+60%) and 2023 (+16%) following two years of decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, with rates returning to levels close to those seen in 2019 before the pandemic.

• Highest incidence rates, which are rising again, among children under 2 years of age and adults aged 65 and older, but at levels that remain similar to or lower than those in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic.

• In 2022, the majority of infections were caused by serotypes not included in the PC13 vaccine (notably serotype 8 in adults and serotype 24F in children), as well as serotype 3 (included in the PC13 vaccine) in adults.

• Serotype coverage of over 60% of cases in adults with the new VPC20 vaccine recommended for adults at risk of PII, compared to over 30% with VPC13, representing an additional one-third of cases preventable by vaccination in this population.

• Importance of improving vaccination coverage among adults, particularly those at risk who account for the vast majority of cases and deaths, through the adoption of a simplified schedule using the VPC20 vaccine to replace the previous combined VPC13–VPP23 schedule.