Nasopharyngeal & Saliva Sampling in Pneumococcal-Vaccinated Children

In the Netherlands, nasopharyngeal and saliva samples were collected from n = 653 children vaccinated with 10 valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccine (PHiD-CV, GlaxoSmithKline), including n = 327 24-month-old vaccinated with PHiD-CV according to “2 primary + 1 booster” dose schedule and n = 326 children aged 44–49 months (“4-year-old”) vaccinated following a “3 primary + 1 booster” schedule. In addition, nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, and saliva samples were collected from n = 318 parents of 24-month-old (“2-year-old”, one parent per child). In England, nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from n = 293 children aged 1–5 years vaccinated with 13-valent conjugated polysaccharide vaccine (Prevnar-13, Pfizer) in a “2 primary +1 booster” dose schedule and from n = 284 adult household contacts of the children [16 (link)].
Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected and processed in accordance with the protocol recommended by the World Health Organization [17 (link)]. Procedures for collection of samples in The Netherlands [7 (link), 9 (link), 15 (link)] and in England [16 (link)] are detailed in supplementary materials.