The countries pledged the monies to create what amounts to an artificial market for the
vaccines to
provide incentive for pharmaceutical companies to introduce next - generation
pneumococcal injections more rapidly, which could then be shipped to impoverished countries.
In February 2002, the 7 - valent
pneumococcal conjugate
vaccine (7vPCV)(Prevenar; Wyeth, Sydney) was
provided free in NSW for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants and others at high risk of invasive
pneumococcal disease (IPD) at two, four and six months of age.1 This was a response to higher rates of IPD in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children compared with the total child population.2 (For ease of reporting, henceforth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander will be referred to as Aboriginal.)