Safeguard against pneumococcal disease with our expert pharmacy team.
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. Many different germs can cause pneumonia, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
When you breathe in these germs, they can settle in the air sacs (alveoli) of your lungs. Deep in your lungs, the germs may grow and overcome your body’s normal defenses.
After they become infected, the air sacs then fill with pus and mucus. This swelling (inflammation) of the air sacs makes them less stretchy and keeps oxygen from properly reaching your blood stream.
As you work harder to breathe and give your body oxygen, you can feel short of breath. The swelling also causes many of the other symptoms of pneumonia like cough, fever, and chest pain.
There are many different kinds of pneumonia — some are milder and some are very serious. Pneumonia can even be life-threatening.
The pneumococcal vaccine prevents the most common types of bacterial pneumonia and other serious infections.
The following people are at high risk and can receive the pneumococcal vaccine: