Why/How are vaxes combined?

[Luv2Skydive]

I vaxed my two older sons before I "knew better" and my 3rd LO is not and won't be vaxed but I was curious as to how and why certain vaxes are grouped together as one vax (i.e. MMR, DTAP)? How is it decided what vaxes will be offered in one shot?

[FernG]

I honestly don't think that there is much thought behind the groupings except that tetanus is dependent on diphtheria (or the other way around) to keep it stable.

I do know that even the early research on the first combos (DTP) showed reduced immunity from combo shots. They seem to be increasing the combos so that parents will worry less about the number of "shots" vs the number of vaccines.

[Marnica]

Yup. It's mostly about reducing the number of times the child gets jabbed. Never mind the fact that there have been NO safety studies on combining shots vs giving them separately

[Gitti]

I works to sell vaccines. Parents will believe that their child only had ONE shot (which is true) when they received the MMR vaccine, which is really THREE different pathogens in one shot.

In some countries they combine SIX pathogens in one shot. They don't seem to get much resistance to giving a child ONE shot verses SIX.

[just_lily]

The exception is pertussis. It has to bind to the diptheria toxoid in order to stabilize (or something like that), which is why it is unavailable as a stand-alone vax.

If your were at a two-month WBV and the nurse came in with seven seperate shots you would probably spaz out and refuse. But when you combine it to five-in-one most people don't even realize how much their child is being shot up with.

Everything boils down to 1) profit, and 2) compliance.

[Deborah]

Have a look at the picture at the bottom of this article:

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/...rotect-adults/

very few parents would be comfy with their kid getting 7 needles at one visit. if they want to get more and more vaccines into babies they have got to combine them.