TY - JOUR T1 - Improving Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates in Rheumatology Clinics JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1361 LP - 1363 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.210058 VL - 48 IS - 9 AU - Julia G. Harris Y1 - 2021/09/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/48/9/1361.abstract N2 - Rheumatology patients on immunosuppression are at increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease. There is a multitude of literature highlighting the risk of pneumococcal infection, hospitalization, and even death in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in whom incidence of invasive pneumococcal infection is 13 times higher than the general population.1,2,3,4 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has also been deemed an at-risk condition and several other rheumatic diseases including polyarteritis nodosa, scleroderma, and Sjögren syndrome have increased hospitalization rates due to pneumococcal disease.2,3,4The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 2 different pneumococcal vaccinations—the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23)—for children aged 6 to 18 years and adults with immunocompromising conditions, which includes patients on iatrogenic immunosuppression.5,6 The European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology vaccination recommendations state that pneumococcal vaccination should be strongly considered for the majority of patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases.7 The American College of Rheumatology RA treatment guidelines recommend pneumococcal vaccines for all treatment groups.8 Receipt of pneumococcal vaccines by adults and children with chronic inflammatory diseases on immunosuppression is also recommended by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.9Despite the risk of invasive pneumococcal disease in many rheumatology patients and the pneumococcal vaccination recommendations summarized above, pneumococcal vaccination rates in this population overall are suboptimal, prompting many centers to engage in quality improvement efforts to increase their vaccination rates.10–19In this issue of The Journal of Rheumatology, Sheth and colleagues … Address correspondence to Dr. J.G. Harris, Division of Rheumatology, Children’s Mercy Kansas City, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA. Email: jgharris{at}cmh.edu. ER -