Objective  To examine the vaccination of pneumococcal vaccine (PV) among children in China and to provide references for developing PV vaccination strategy.

  Methods  We selected 20 counties (municipalities or districts) in 8 provincial regions as study sites and randomly recruited 50 children born in years between 2008 and 2012 in each of the counties from Children Vaccination Information Management System. Then we conducted on-site surveys on PV vaccination history among the children to evaluate vaccination rate of PV.

  Results  Among the 978 children surveyed, the coverage rate for one, two, three, and four doses vaccination of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) were 6.44%, 3.37%, 1.94%, and 1.23%, respectively, and the coverage rate of 23-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV23) was 16.87%. The coverage rate for one dose vaccination of PCV7 was 8.12%, 7.61%, 4.62%, 4.62%, and 7.22% for the children born in the year from 2008 to 2012 and the vaccination rate of PCV23 was 23.86%, 22.34%, 18.97%, and 15.90% for the children born in the year from 2008 to 2011, respectively. There was no significant difference in one dose PCV7 vaccination rate and in PCV23 vaccination rate among the children born in different years during the 5-year period (both P > 0.05).

  Conclusion  The vaccination rate of PCV7 is low among children in China, public health related intervention measures should be implemented to increase the coverage rate of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine among children, and PPV23 service should be further regulated.