3 out of 4 in a series

[junobella]

My 3 yr old just received his 2nd prev. and 3rd DTap today. I am considering stopping here for the DTap and not going any further than one more with the prev. He has 2 HIB as well.

What do you think as far as the effectiveness of the vaxs with only having 3 of the 4 in a series? I remember reading that around 90% of kiddos are covered after 3 doses but they do a 4th to cover the rest.

I feel like you're never 100% immune with any vax and it seems like they're just to lessen the disease if one were to come in contact. So, my humble theory is 3 is better than none (maybe) and one more wont make a huge difference.

Is this totally ignorant of me to think this way!?!?

[LisaSedai]

I think you would be well covered for the D and T but there are issues with the whooping cough vaccine lately. They don't think it is as effective anymore (maybe only good for 3 years) so they are making kids get a 5th shot now around 12 years old. From what I have read, I think either the virus has mutated and the vaccine isn't working  or it is not actually pertussis but parapertussis that is causing most of the whooping cough outbreaks  http://iai.asm.org/content/61/2/486.abstract so throwing more booster shots at it probably is not going to help IMHO.

[FlipMom23]

You are correct.  After three doses, >90% of people show immunity to the D/T portion of DTaP.  The pertussis portion is only 60-some % effective anyway, even after the fourth dose.  I plan to do only three doses of DTaP also.  IPV is the same way... >90% after three doses.