DTaP and polio vaccines effective when combined

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As booster vaccines in young children, the DTaP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough, can be combined with the inactivated poliovirus (IPV) vaccine without reducing the effectiveness of either, new research shows.

"When given as a booster dose to 4-6 year olds," senior investigator Dr. Nicola P. Klein told Reuters Health, "a combined vaccine (is as safe and effective as) separate injections of DTaP and IPV."

Klein of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, Oakland, California and colleagues studied more than 4200 children who were randomly assigned to receive the DTaP-IPV combination or DTaP and IPV given separately. All of the children also received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

The findings appear in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

"Typically," Klein noted, "4-6 year olds receive four or more booster vaccinations during a single visit -- which is often just prior to starting kindergarten -- and this combined vaccine could potentially decrease the number of injections that they receive during this visit by one."

SOURCE: Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, April 2008.