Safety and acceptability of pneumococcal vaccinations administered in nontraditional settings

Background: Concerns about the safety and acceptability of vaccine administration in nontraditional settings might leave patients and their providers reluctant to take advantage of nontraditional settings for immunizations. Methods: Elderly persons who received pneumococcal vaccinations in these settings were surveyed with a structured questionnaire. They were asked about local and systemic symptoms during the postvaccination week versus a comparison time period. Results: Of the 1136 people included in the convenience sample, 636 responded (56%). Systemic symptoms were generally at similar or lower rates for the postvaccination week versus the comparison week, although fever was more common during the postvaccination week (3% vs 0.3%: P