Indigenous Australians experience one of the highest rates of pneumococcal disease globally. In the Northern Territory of Australia, a unique government-funded vaccination schedule for Indigenous Australian adults comprising multiple lifetime doses of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is currently implemented. Despite this programme, rates of pneumococcal disease do not appear to be declining, with concerns raised over the potential for immune hyporesponse associated with the use of this vaccine. We undertook a study to examine the immunogenicity and immune function of a single and repeat pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination among Indigenous adults compared to non-Indigenous adults. Our results found that immune function, as measured by opsonophagocytic and memory B-cell responses, were similar between the Indigenous groups but lower for some serotypes in comparison with the non-Indigenous group. This is the first study to document the immunogenicity following repeat 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine administration among Indigenous Australian adults, and reinforces the continued need for optimal pneumococcal vaccination programmes among high-risk populations.

中文翻译：

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重复肺炎球菌多糖疫苗接种不会损害澳大利亚土著居民的功能性免疫反应。

澳大利亚土著人是全球肺炎球菌病发病率最高的国家之一。在澳大利亚北领地，目前正在实施一项由政府资助的针对澳大利亚原住民的独特疫苗接种计划，其中包括多个终生剂量的肺炎球菌多糖疫苗。尽管有该计划，但肺炎球菌疾病的发病率似乎并未下降，引起了人们对与使用该疫苗相关的免疫反应低下的担忧。我们进行了一项研究，以检查与非土著成年人相比，土著成年人中单次重复肺炎球菌多糖疫苗的免疫原性和免疫功能。我们的研究结果发现，通过调理吞噬和记忆B细胞反应来衡量免疫功能，土著人群之间的相似性，但与非土著人群相比，某些血清型较低。这是第一个证明在澳大利亚原住民成年人中重复接种23价肺炎球菌多糖疫苗后具有免疫原性的研究，并增加了对高危人群中最佳肺炎球菌疫苗接种计划的持续需求。