I've already had the Prevnar 13 immunization, but can I also receive an additional PNEUMOVAX 23 immunization ? I had the 13 about a year ago. If I had known about the 23 at the time, I would have looked into it. Now I'm wondering if I can remedy that, since I'm in a chronic high risk group for pneumococcal disease.

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I've already had the Prevnar 13 immunization, but can I also receive an additional PNEUMOVAX 23 immunization ? I had the 13 about a year ago. If I had known about the 23 at the time, I would have looked into it. Now I'm wondering if I can remedy that, since I'm in a chronic high risk group for pneumococcal disease.

I asked my internist this question several months back. He told me to wait. All vaccines carry some small risk. Being that you are in a high risk groups do not rely on information except from someone who knows your complete medical history. If you have a pulmonologist or oncologist those are the folks to answer that question.

My endocrinologist said yes, but only after a careful review of my records and risk factors. Have a visit with your doctor. My job often puts me in fairly close contact with sick people.

The current recommendation is to get both. If you are on Medicare, you'll want to wait 1 year so Medicare will pay. If not, it's 6 months. If you are over 65,then you'll get each vaccine once. Under 65 with certain underlying conditions you'll get it now and then when you're 65, making sure at least 5 years have passed between the same vaccine (Pneumovax to Pneumovax, etc). I'm a pharmacist and I administer these quite often, in addition to many others. If you have any other questions, shoot me an email.

Thanks Erick. Exactly what I needed to know. I have a lot of respect for pharmacists, they know their stuff, and I've never met one that wasn't friendly and extremely helpful.