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A Double Shot
Combined Vaccines: The Latest in Immunization
By Katherine Bontrager
Your child's beginning years will be filled with some awe-inspiring firsts, new challenges and more than a few trips to the pediatrician. The schedule of his or her immunizations can be overwhelming. The sheer number of shots required is enough to make most cringe, amounting to repeated trips to the doctor's office, upset newborns and a handful of injection sites to watch for possible reactions. Thankfully, there are new medical advancements that may help lessen the trauma associated with pediatric vaccinations.
"The current U.S. childhood immunization schedule offers protection against 13 potentially serious infectious diseases," says Dr. Jay M. Lieberman, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, and chief of infectious diseases at Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach. "Although the benefits of these vaccines are substantial, the price we pay has been an increased number of shots. Infants may require 20 or more injections by 2 years of age and as many as five injections at a single visit. Some physicians, nurses and parents object to giving multiple shots at one visit and delay vaccinations to future visits."
According to Dr. Lieberman, this practice can result in children not getting needed vaccines on time, thus putting them at risk for developing a vaccine-preventable infectious disease.
The answer has, in part, been met by the use of combined vaccines, which have been around for longer than you may think. The diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus (DTP) vaccine has been available since 1947, according to Dr. Daniel Johnson, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago.
And remember the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) necessary for most public schools? It has been around since the 1970s, says Dr. Johnson. "Other combined vaccines such as the hepatitis B vaccine combined with Haemophilus influenza vaccine came out in the 1990s," he says.
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