From Vincent Iannelli, M.D.,
Your Guide to Pediatrics.
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About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Kate Grossman, MD

No, they are not magical shots that will cure or prevent all childrens' illnesses, but your kids may think you have special powers as you decrease the number of shots they need to get when they are little.

The new 'super' vaccines simply combine multiple vaccines into a single shot.

There are already a few of these combination shots available now that your kids can get. Comvax combines the Hib and Hepatitis B vaccines, TriHIBit combines DTaP and Hib, and Twinrix combines the vaccines for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B. They have some drawbacks though. TriHIBit can only be used as the 4th dose in the series of these shots, so the first three still have to be given separately. And Twinrix is only approved for people over age 18.

ProQuad is the latest combination vaccine. It combines the MMR and Varivax (chicken pox) vaccines into a single shot.

Pediarix is another combination vaccine that received FDA approval a few years ago. It combines the immunizations for Diphtheria, Tetanus and acellular Pertussis (DTaP), Hepatitis B and inactivated Polio (IPV), which used to require three separate shots.

Pediarix is given to children as a three dose series at 2, 4, and 6 months. So instead of 9 shots for the series to get protection against Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Hepatitis B and Polio, you can now get the same protection for your kids in just 3 shots.

Side effects are similar to what children have after getting these same vaccines separately, except fever is more common in children that receive Pediarix, especially on the day of the shot and the day after.

With these new vaccines, your child's immunization schedule might look like this:

• birth: Hepatitis B
• 2 Months: Prevnar, Hib, Pediarix
• 4 Months: Prevnar, Hib, Pediarix
• 6 Months: Prevnar, Hib, Pediarix
• 9 Months:
• 12 Months: Prevnar, Hib, ProQuad, Hepatitis A
• 15-18 Months: DTaP
• 18-24 Months: Hepatitis A
• 4-6 Years: DTaP, IPV and MMR

With this schedule, your kids will be down to just 19 separate shots, which may still seem like a lot, but is better than the 24-25 shots they may get now. For example, at 2 months, before Pediarix, your child likely received 5 vaccines, Prevnar, Hib, DTaP, IPV, Hepatitis B, although with Comvax (Hib/Hepatitis B), he may have gotten just 4. And that is now cut down to just 3 shots. Keep in mind that even if your child gets three doses of Pediarix, it is still recommended that they get a birth dose of Hepatitis B.

The use of ProQuad is welcomed now that it is recommended that toddlers get a Hepatitis A shot beginning when they are 12 months old, a time when they could also get their MMR, Varivax, Prevnar, and Hib vaccines.

Will your insurance pay for it?

Yes. Since they aren't really new vaccines, but just a combination of other vaccines, there shouldn't be too much trouble getting your insurance company to cover Pediarix and other combination shots. Fewer shots also means fewer vaccine administration fees (the fee your Pediatrician charges to give your child a shot), so insurance companies may actually encourage the use of combination vaccines.

Combination vaccines are generally not included right away in most state's Vaccines for Children programs though, which provide free vaccines to people who are eligible for Medicaid or don't have health insurance. As they become more widely used, hopefully that will change.

The Future of the 'Super' Vaccines

Other combination vaccines that are being studied include:

• Pentavac: combining DTaP, IPV, and Hib
• Hexavac: combining DTaP, IPV, Hib and hepatitis B
• DTaP, Hib, IPV, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B

The Hexavac vaccine is especially exciting, since that might be just 2 shots for your child during infancy (Hexavac and Prevnar).

Other good combinations might include putting Prevnar and Hib together. Or how about Pediarix, Prevnar and Hib? That would mean just one shot at 2, 4 and 6 months!

Fewer shots are good, but even more exciting would be the development of edible vaccines. Early research showed that producing edible vaccines is theoretically possible, but the production of the first edible vaccines are likely way off.