The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7199 p717-719
25 May 2002

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  Dispensing
  Checking technicians
  Childhood vaccination
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Letters to the Editor

Childhood vaccination

Single vaccines could fuel misconceptions

From Mrs H. E. Kelcey, MRPharmS

Can anyone explain to me why, in spite of concerns about the possibility of adverse effects when giving a combined vaccination for mumps, measles and rubella, no one hesitates to bare their eight-week-old's buttock for vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, meningitis C, and Haemophilus influenzae, followed by a gulp of polio?

If the postulated danger lies in giving vaccinations to several antigens at once, why is it not also a risk with these vaccines? And if it is not the combination of vaccines, but one "rogue" from the MMR trio which is implicated (albeit tenuously), is our debate concerning the merits of single vaccine availability actually going to fuel the public's misconception that as long as the three components of the MMR are given separately, there is no risk?

H. Kelcey
Birmingham

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