About the Authors

Ales Tichopad

he@ceeor.com

Affiliation CEEOR spol. s r.o., Prague, Czech Republic

Craig Roberts

Affiliation Emerging Markets Business Unit, Pfizer Inc., Collegeville, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Igor Gembula

Affiliation CEEOR spol. s r.o., Prague, Czech Republic

Petr Hajek

Affiliation Emerging Markets Business Unit, Pfizer Inc., Collegeville, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Anna Skoczynska

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Microbiology, National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Waleria Hryniewicz

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Microbiology, National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Karina Jahnz-Rozyk

Affiliation Department of Immunology & Allergology, Military Institute of Health Service, Warsaw, Poland

Roman Prymula

Affiliation University Hospital Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Ivan Solovič

Affiliation I. Department of Pneumology and Ftizeology, National Institute for Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Vysne Hagy, Slovakia

Vitězslav Kolek

Affiliation Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests. This study was sponsored by Pfizer Inc. CR and PH are employees and shareholders in Pfizer Inc. AT and IG are employed by CEEOR spol. s r.o. AT and IG have received a reimbursement for attending a symposium, a fee for speaking and funds for research; AS received a reimbursement for attending a symposium, a fee for speaking, a fee for organizing education, funds for research, funds for a member of staff and fees for consulting; VH has received a reimbursement for attending a symposium, a fee for speaking and fees for consulting. PR has received a reimbursement for attending a symposium, a fee for speaking, and fees for consulting and funds for research from Pfizer Inc. in the past five years. KJH has served as a principal investigator in clinical trials (A7881013, A6631029) sponsored by Pfizer Inc. in the past five years. VK has no conflict of interest. Pfizer Inc. develops and markets medicines and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of pneumonia. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AT CR IG PH. Performed the experiments: AT VK IG. Analyzed the data: AT IG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AS WH KJR RP IS VK. Wrote the paper: AT CR.