Vaccine Information

Your child will be immunized against a host of diseases in the first few years. All of these diseases are potentially lethal and disabling, even though most of us have long forgotten their terrible nature. Available on the internet is a lot of mis-information about the current state of Vaccines . Most of it is guided by hear-say and anecdotal circumstantial theories. Most of the information ignores stories like the deadly epidemics of Whooping Cough during the 1990's in Britain after they ceased the DtaP immunization program, or the fact that Congenital Rubella, is unheard of today. We forget the sterility and hearing loss caused by Mumps, or the encephalitis and death of Measles. Iron Lungs are seen in museums, not hospitals because of the Polio (IPV) vaccine, and more recently, the almost complete disappearance of HIB meningitis in infants and toddlers due to this vaccine introduced in the late 1980's. More recently, the tremendous reduction in pneumonia, ear infections, and meningitis from pneumococcal bacteria due to the Prevnar Vaccine.

Immunization Information

Below is the immunization schedule that we follow. This is a rough guideline only, and changes depending on the age of your child, previous immunizations received, and other factors that develop as your child age. Click on an arrow to bring up more information about that vaccine.

Recommended Immunization Schedule

Hep B

DTaP

IPV

HIB

Prevnar

Rotavirus

MMR

Varivax

Hep A

HPV

Meningo-

coccal

TdaP

1 M

2 M

4 M

5 M

12 M

15 M

18 M

24 M

4-6 Y

10-11 Y

12 Y

14-16 Y

The Vaccine	Diseases this Vaccine Prevents	How many shots, and when to get them
Hep B*	Liver infection caused by Hepatitis B Virus	Three shots, starting between birth and 1 month of age, finishing 6 months later. Children and teenagers who missed these shots when they were babies should catch up on the series as soon as possible
DTaP*	Diptheria, tetanus and Pertussis (whooping cough). The acellular form of the pertussis vaccine used now causes fewer unwanted reations than the vaccine of the past.	Five shots, 3 in the first year of live, one booster in the second year, and the last booster before Kindergarten. Older children get a booster of the Td components every 5 to 10 years.
Tdap	Tetanus, diptheria, Pertussis vaccine for adolescents 11 years and up.	Given as a booster dose over the age of 10
Hib*	Meningitis, pneumonia, and bloodstream infections caused by Hib bacteria.	Usually four shots, 3 in the first year and a booster in the second year.
HPV*	Prevents HPV infections that cause Cervical Cancer and Human Venereal Warts	Given as three shots over a six month period to GIRLS only!
IPV*	Polio. IPV is made from an inactivated virus that cannot cause Polio when children are vaccinated. IPV has replaced the Oral vaccine a few years ago	Four shots, 2 in the first year, a booster in the second year, and a booster before kindergarten.
MMR*	Measles, Mumps Rubella (German Measles)	Two shots, the first given around 15 months, and the second before Kindergarten.
Varicella*	Chicken Pox	One shot given at 12-18 months of age. For children over 12 not vaccinated, they get two shots over two months. A second shot is recommended from 4 and up.
PCV* (Pneumococcal Vaccine)	Pneumonia, meningitis, and bloodstream infections cause by the pneumococcal bacteria. Also reduced the risk of ear infections.	Four shots, 3 in the first year of life, and a booster in the second year.
Hep A*	Liver disease caused by the Hepatitis A virus.	Hep A vaccine recommended only for children who live in areas where infection rates are high. It is given as two shots over 6 months.
Influenza	Influenza (the flu). A new vaccine is made up each year to match the influenza viruses that are most likely to cause disease that year.	A yearly shot is recommended for children over 6 months of age. The first year a child gets the vaccine, there are two shots given.

1 the Pediarix combination (DTAP/IPV/HepB) and the ComVax (Hib/HepB) both have no Thimerosal

* Thimerosal Free products used in this office (ActHib/Comvax/Pediarix/Polio/MMRII/Prevnar/Daptacel)

Thimerosal in Vaccines

All vaccines used in routine immunization problems in infancy are THIMEROSAL FREE!!. As of 2005, the only vaccines still containing this preservative are the Influenza (injected) and the dT boosters given at 10 years of age. The following chart reviews this information:

Vaccine	Tradename (Manufacturer)*	Thimerosal Status Concentration(Mercury)**	Approval Date for Thimerosal Free or Thimerosal / Preservative Free (Trace Thimerosal)* Formulation**
DTaP	Infanrix (GSK)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
	Daptacel (AP)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
	Tripedia (AP)	Trace(<0.3 µg Hg/0.5mL dose)	03/07/01
DTaP-HepB-IPV	Pediarix (GSK)	Free	Never contained more than a Trace of Thimerosal-removed during processing
Pneumococcal conjugate	Prevnar (WL)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Inactivated Poliovirus	IPOL (AP)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Varicella (chicken pox)	Varivax (M)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Mumps, measles, and rubella	M-M-R-II (M)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Hepatitis B	Recombivax HB (M)	Free	08/27/99
Hepatitis B	Engerix B (GSK)	Trace (<0.5 µg Hg/0.5mL dose)	03/28/00
Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate (Hib)	ActHIB (AP)/OmniHIB (GSK)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
	PedvaxHIB (M)	Free	08/99
	HibTITER, single dose (WL)1	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Hib/Hepatitis B combination	Comvax (M)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal
Influenza	Fluzone (AP)	0.01% (12.5 µg/0.25 mL dose, 25 µg/0.5 mL dose)2
	Fluzone (AP) (Preservative Free)	Trace (<0.5 µg/0.25mL dose)2	09/04/02
	Fluvirin (Chiron/Evans)	0.01% (25 µg/0.5 mL dose)
	Fluvirin (Chiron/Evans) (Preservative Free)	Trace (<1ug Hg/0.5mL dose)	09/28/01
Influenza, live	FluMist3 (MedImmune)	Free	Never contained Thimerosal