Swedish Vaccination Programme

BB had her 12 month vaccinations yesterday at the Children's Health Central. There were two shots, one in each leg.

I'm in favor of the Swedish Vaccination Programme. I just don't like needles piercing my beloved daughters skin. The pediatrics nurse who administered the shots was however very skilled and was quick, compassionate and effective.

This time around she got the DTaP, the IPV and the Hib in one injection and the Pneumococcal vaccination (PCV7) in another.

The DTaP is a combined vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, in which the pertussis component is acellular. The acellular vaccine uses selected antigens of the pertussis pathogen to induce immunity. Because it uses fewer antigens than the whole cell vaccines, it is considered safer, but it is also more expensive.(1) Another drawback is that it only contains three to five antigens.
The Hib is against Haemophilus influenzae type b. The IPV against Polio.

Diphtheria is very rare these days in Sweden, according to the Swedish Institute of Infectious Disease Control there was only on repported case in 2009(2). It is a serious disease once contracted, with fatality rates between 5% and 10%. In children younger than 5 years and adults over 40 years, the fatality rate may be as much as 20%(3)

Tetanus infection generally occurs through wound contamination and often involves a cut or deep puncture wound.(4 - trigger warning for infant picture) There were 3 cases in Sweden in 2009.(5) Particularly the neonatal form remains a devastating public health problem in non-industrialized countries. The infection causes an estimated of 300,000 to 500,000 deaths each year in the world.(4)

Pertussis infection induces immunity, but not lasting protective immunity, and a second attack is possible. It is a disease of the respiratory tract caused by bacteria that live in the mouth, nose, and throat. Many children who contract pertussis have coughing spells that last four to eight weeks. The disease is most dangerous in infants. 254.000 is estimated to have died of Pertussis in 2004.(6)

Between 1979-1996 the pertussis vaccination was not a part of the Swedish vaccination programme. There were 281 cases of pertussis in Sweden in 2009. That makes it 3.01 cases per 100.000. Sadly it still causes about one infant death per year in Sweden in non vaccinated children.(7)

Haemophilus influenzae type b can cause meningitis, septicaemia or epiglottitis. Around 5% of cases are fatal, and as with meningococcal disease, serious sequelae, including deafness, convulsions and intellectual impairment may result.(8) Sweden had 34 cases in 2009/0.36 cases per 100.000 inhabitants. the risk of dying was 9%. But at least none of these deaths were in infants.(9)

Polio is cause by a virus and is most often transmitted by dirty water. Sweden has vaccinated against it since 1957 and there hasn't been a case since 1977. Up to 95% of all polio infections are inapparent or asymptomatic but could still infect others. 1% could become paralyzed. The Global Polio Eradication Program has dramatically reduced poliovirus transmission throughout the world. In 2008, only 1,655 confirmed cases of polio were reported globally and polio was endemic in four countries (10).

• The DTaP used in Sweden is Infanrix and manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline(11)
• The IPV we use in Sweden is the brand name Imovax that is manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur MSD(12)
• The HiB is named Act-HIB and manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur MSD
• The PCV7, brand name Prevenar is manufactured by Wyeth (13, 14)

The vaccinations are free of charge to us as a family.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPT_vaccine#Tdap
2. http://www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se/in-english/statistics/diphtheria/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphteria
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanus
5. http://www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se/in-english/statistics/tetanus/
6. http://www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/diseases/pertussis/en/
7. http://www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se/vanliga-fragor/allmanna-vaccinationsprogrammet/kikhosta/#12
8. http://www.euibis.org/haemophilus.htm
9. http://www.euibis.org/documents/2006_hib.pdf
10. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/polio.pdf

See also:

Diseases included in the Vaccination Programme (cases in Sweden etc)
http://www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se/in-english/statistics/sok-pa-sjukdomskategori/?c=249