Big deal? You bet

Big deal? You bet

Tomorrow, the BBC will be at the Langata Health Center in Nairobi to do a story on the new pneumococcal vaccine now being given here, although the official vaccine launch is not until Valentine’s Day. ONE photographer Morgana Wingard and I are there today, so we fully intend to take credit for scooping the BBC.

Here’s why this new vaccine is so important: In the developing world, pneumonia kills in the neighborhood of 1.4 million kids every year. Pneumococcal, the deadliest strain of that illness (and a major cause of what we might call “regular” pneumonia), kills 800,000. Call me crazy, but this new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal is a Really. Big. Deal.

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