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Article: DTP shots: benefit outweighs risk. (diphtheria and tetanus shot)
- Article from:
- FDA Consumer
- Article date:
- September 1, 1987
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DTP Shots: Benefit Outweighs Risk
Children whose parents or siblings have a history of convulsions should nevertheless receive the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine on schedule, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The pertussis vaccine is ordinarily combined with vaccines for diphtheria and tetanus into a so-called DTP shot.
CDC's Immunization Practices Advisory Committee reached this decision after considering the risks of pertussis itself, the large number of children with a family history of convulsions (5 percent to 7 percent), and the clustering of these children within families.
The committee did admit that children with a ...