Hospitals count cost of pneumo disease

IT costs hospitals around €147,000 a day to treat patients with pneumococcal disease, according to a new campaign urging people at risk to get vaccinated against the infection.

The average annual cost of hospitalisation for pneumococcal disease is €54 million but the human cost is much greater. Around five people die every day from pneumonia.

The Know Pneumo Campaign points out the pneumococcal vaccine takes the form of a single dose for most people and can be given together with the annual flu vaccination.