9

From Public Health England:

With single vaccines, children would need 6 separate injections:

  • 3 primary doses - 1 measles, 1 mumps, 1 rubella

  • 3 pre-school boosters

Each injection can be uncomfortable and the act of immunisation is sometimes distressing for children.

Single vaccines are less safe than MMR because they leave children vulnerable to dangerous diseases for longer. Giving 3 separate doses at spaced out intervals would mean that, after the first injection, the child still has no immunity to the other 2 diseases.

Given the benefits of combining the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines into a single MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, why don't we see similar packaging more often? Why aren't other vaccines similarly combined?

Improve this question
14
  • Please re-tag and suggest improvements as appropriate. Thanks in advance!
    – Barry Harrison
    Commented Apr 21, 2019 at 4:23
  • 3
    In the UK, the 6-in-1 vaccination is recommended for all babies at 8, 12 and 16 weeks. It provides immunisation for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hep B, HiB and polio, and thus constitutes a significant proportion of diseases that children are vaccinated against routinely.
    – Chris
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 21:29
  • 1
    @Chris Thanks for the link. Now I can see DPTP-Hib is common, just packaged with Hep B and given a different name.
    – Barry Harrison
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 0:08
  • 1
    answering your own questions is totally a thing. You've figured out the dates etc. As for how I knew it, I'm just familiar with the childhood vaccination schedule and knew roughly which ones have been introduced in the last 30 years or so and which existed before that.
    – Kate Gregory
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 0:13
  • 1
    I'll consider writing my own answer tomorrow, so others can get a chance to do so.
    – Barry Harrison
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 0:14

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

I work in a pediatric office, and we regularly administer combination vaccines to our patients. (Such as Pediarix, Pentacel, ProQuad, etc.) You can check out table 2 in this link to see all CDC approved combo vaccines in the U.S.

On a side note, the CDC does not even consider MMR (or DTaP for that matter as well) to be a combo shot as it is hard to find a vaccine for each individual component of those vaccines. (Source)

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.