Preventing Pneumonia: Vaccines, Antibody Products and Healthy Habits

Key points

• Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs.
• It affects millions of people worldwide every year.
• It can often be prevented and can usually be treated.
• Immunizations and healthy habits lower your risk.

Immunization and the right treatment — antibiotics and antivirals — could prevent many deaths from pneumonia each year.

In the United States

Most people with pneumonia in the U.S. are adults. According to CDC data, more than 41,000 people in the U.S. died of pneumonia in 2022.

Some people are at higher risk because of age, other health conditions or certain behaviors — see CDC's risk factors for pneumonia.

Immunizations

Against bacteria — vaccines can prevent infection by some of the bacteria that cause pneumonia:

• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Pneumococcal disease

Against viruses — vaccines, antibody products, or both:

• COVID-19
• Influenza (flu)
• Measles
• RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)
• Varicella (chickenpox)

Each link says who should get it. CDC also keeps safety information for each vaccine.

Healthy habits

Stay away from sick people — and if you're sick, stay away from others as much as you can.

You can also help prevent respiratory infections by:

• washing your hands regularly (when and how);
• cleaning and disinfecting surfaces people touch a lot;
• coughing or sneezing into a tissue or your elbow or sleeve;
• avoiding cigarette smoke, or quitting smoking;
• keeping long-term conditions such as asthma under control.

CDC also links pneumonia prevention to avoiding excessive alcohol use.

Around the world

In 2021, pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections killed more than 500,000 children under 5. World Pneumonia Day, every November 12, draws attention to this global crisis.

Sources

Based on "Pneumonia Prevention and Control," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The page's stock photograph of a patient and its World Pneumonia Day banner are not reproduced.