Two DTap/Tdap/Td questions, 8 year old and 6 year old

[jplain]

1) My older daughter is 8, and will be getting her first vaccine this week, a Tdap.  What spacing would you recommend for the following Td doses, and how many are necessary?  (I've seen references to needing 2 or 3.)

2) My younger daughter is turning 6, with multiple food intolerances but no known true allergies aside from hypersensitivity to mosquito bites.  I'm not willing to begin vaccinating her yet, as I'd like to give her immune system a little more time to calm down.  If I plan to vaccinate for pertussis in about a year, is there an advantage to going in for a DTaP a few weeks before her 7th birthday, or would it be wiser to wait and give her Tdap after she turns 7?  If she got a DTap just before turning 7, I assume she'd get a couple Td's and then a Tdap around age 11, right?

Thanks!

[DrBobSears]

not sure what an nbsp is. 

But as for DTaP and Tdap, the DTaP can't be used once a person turns seven.  So, your eight year old shouldn't get it.  Your only choice is Tdap for pertussis protection.  That would only be ONE dose, at whatever age you want her to get it.  IF your goal is tetanus protection, you can get a plain tetanus - 3 doses.  If you goal is some pertussis protection, then I'd only do ONE Tdap.

For your 6 year old - if you want her to have pertussis protection, you'd get as many doses as you can before she turns seven (no more than 3 doses).  You'd then do a Tdap booster at the usual age - 12, if you want her well-protected.

Keep in mind that at this time, people can only get ONE Tdap dose.

Dose this answer your question?