The DTaP Vaccine: What the Manufacturer's Insert Tells Us

The Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccine, or DTaP, is among the recommended vaccines given to young infants in the United States beginning at 2 months old.

This vaccine is one of the more controversial because, despite a 95% vaccine rate, pertussis (whooping cough) is still very prevalent. The effectiveness of the pertussis vaccine is estimated at anywhere from 94% to as low as 63%, depending on who you ask. It is difficult to determine because most doctors will not diagnose whooping cough as actually being whooping cough, so legitimate cases go unreported. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that whooping cough cases may be 20 times higher than reported.

Changes To The DPT VaccineThe most common form of this vaccine used to be the DPT, but because of so many reported and documented cases of injury resulting from the pertussis portion, the vaccine is now manufactured with an acellular version, hence the "a" in DTaP. A recent study that compares the two versions can be found in the August 2004 issue of Brain Development.

The Package InsertIt is increasingly difficult for parents to make an informed choice regarding vaccinations because of such factors as an inability to determine their true effectiveness, common misconceptions about vaccine-preventable diseases, and the growing list of children who may have been severely injured or even killed by vaccines. One place parents often forget to look is in the package inserts themselves.

Package inserts are documents included by the manufacturer of a vaccine or drug that contains such information as what it is, its intended use, contraindications (circumstances under which the vaccine or drug should not be used) and potential side effects.

INFANRIX by GlaxoSmithKline
One brand of DTaP vaccine is INFANRIX. The package insert provided by GlaxoSmithKline can be viewed by clicking here.