Combination Vaccines

[WifeofAnt]

If you vaccinate, what do you think?  Do they have less chemicals (like aluminum) than getting the same shots separately?

[AboutPediatrics]

The only benefit is fewer shots, which should mean less pain. For example, if your child got the Pentacel vaccine, it would be one shot, instead of three separate DTaP, IPV, and Hib shots.

Everything else, including additives, etc., is likely the same.

Unlike other combination vaccines, one combination vaccine, ProQuad (Varivax - MMR), has actually been shown to be more likely to cause fever than kids who get separate chicken pox and MMR vaccines though.

[ema-adama]

http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab005530.html

Not the same vaccine, but similar principle. There is not good evidence that the protection is as good as it is with the individual shots. And there are more reactions with combined shots.

Look at product inserts for the amounts of Aluminum to compare.

[amnesiac]

Here's a chart comparing aluminum content (note that the amount listed in the OP for Pentacel is incorrect - it's actually 330 mcg):

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/815768/amount-of-aluminum-in-vaccines-detailed-list

So you can see that aluminum content varies from one brand to the next, whether it's a combination vaccine or not. I suppose you would need to know what brands your physician stocks.

MMRV does indeed have a greater incidence of reactions because there is about 3 times as much varicella in it than in separate Varivax in order to prevent inferior efficacy. That's the reason they halted manufacturing it for a while - it was using up too much of their seed stock.