“Super” Dose Of Protection For Little Ones

The new heavy duty five-in-one “super” vaccine Pentacel, a combination of multiple vaccines into a single shot has been given green signal by FDA. This will consequently decrease the number of shots needed to protect babies and toddlers from potentially dangerous infections.

Getting vaccinated is the best way to combat some very serious infections.

Pentacel is the first multi-utility and only combination vaccine in the U.S, approved by FDA protects children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infections. Hib infections include meningitis and pneumonia.

Tina Q. Tan, MD and an infectious disease specialist at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, says “the FDA approval of Pentacel is great news for parents and pediatricians who want to reduce the stress of well-baby visits."

"Pentacel vaccine will help simplify the immunization schedule by reducing the number of injections infants and young children will receive in their first 2 years of life," Wayne Pisano, president and chief executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur, the drug manufacturer, says in a news release.

According to the CDC, children under 18 months who follow the recommended childhood immunization schedule and receive single-entity vaccines would typically need up to 23 shots but the good news is that the new combination vaccine would reduce that number by seven.

"Pentacel vaccine could be easily integrated into the recommended childhood vaccination schedule," said Steven Black, MD, co-director, Kaiser Permanente Pediatric Vaccine Study Center. "In addition, this combination vaccine has the potential to protect against five diseases in a single injection."

The “super” vaccine can be used safely for infants and children aged 6 weeks through 4 years, Pentacel is given in four doses, once at ages 2, 4, 6 and 15-18 months,although it's use in children is restricted upto the age age of 5 years.

The vaccine has been clinically tested among more than 5,000 children in the U.S. and Canada and it has also proved to be safe and effective. Adverse reactions included injection site redness, swelling, fever, fussiness and crying.

Infants who develop Guillain-Barré syndrome after a prior tetanus vaccine, or develop a serious adverse reaction after a prior whooping cough vaccine, must not be administered this vaccine, the company said.

The “super” vaccine is the first and only four-dose DTaP-based combination vaccine that includes both polio and Hib vaccine components as well as sanofi pasteur's 5 acellular pertussis antigens.

As of now, Pentacel vaccine is licensed in eight other countries, including Canada, where Pentacel has been administered for over a decade to infants and toddlers for protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Hib.