Exceptional high number of IPD cases in winter season 2024–2025 in Belgium in concomitance with rise in vaccine serotypes

Following lifting of containment measures post-COVID, the number of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) infections continued to increase, reaching a record number last winter season 2024-2025 in Belgium. This exceptional increase is largely due to high numbers in (older) adults, and mainly an increase of vaccine serotype IPD. Over 95 % of IPD cases last winter could theoretically be prevented by vaccination. Cases of serotypes 12F, 14 and 4 were three or more times higher compared to pre-COVID winter season 2019-2020.