Dtap/Tdap and my soon to be 7yr old

[Mama2Kayla]

Hi Dr Sears,

As a baby, my older dd had one dtap at 2 months before I stopped vaccinating. I am trying to get her caught up for school now and I finding conflicting info about what to do for a child her age.

According to our state(nc), she isn't required to be vaccinated for Pertussis if she's over 7 to go to school, but I still want her to have some protection. After reading some(immunize.org), it looks like if she waits until 7, they recommend a singe dose of Tdap in the case of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals. So I wanted to wait the 3 months out and get her that shot.  I discussed this some with our doc, but she recommended finishing the dtap series, so I went ahead and got dd the shot.

Now I am re-thinking all of this as I have read dtap isn't recommended over the age of 7. Dd will not be completing the series before her bday, so when she turns 7 should I just go ahead and do one tdap and be done? Would just doing this allow her to have enough protection from tetanus?

I plan to talk more with our doctor at our next appointment, but I wanted to throw it out here and see if you had any info on the subject.

Thanks!

[DrBobSears]

You can't get any more DTaP once she turns 7, and at that point and beyond you can only get ONE dose of Tdap.  So, the question is do you get a third DTaP right before she turns 7, then get the Tdap down the road?  That's a good plan - the three doses of DTaP actually provide all the tetanus she needs. The reason for so many DTaPs is that you need that many for pertussis. Tetanus only needs three doses.  In this scenario, I would actually delay the Tdap until it's officially indicated age of 11.  this won't be great pertussis protection, and if that worries you you could always get the Tdap early, but I'd put at least 6 months between that third DTaP and the Tdap

[Mama2Kayla]

Thank you Dr. Sears for helping me make sense of this. I think that sounds like a great plan.  

Take care!