Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, and Hib Vaccine

In Canadian childhood vaccination programs, vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus (a bacterial infection) are administered as one shot in a vaccine with the trade name, Pediacel®. An alternate vaccine being offered has a sixth component against hepatitis B. Since it eliminates any need for the single hepatitis B vaccine, one of the first four vaccines injected at 2 months, Public Health hopes this vaccine, Infanrix hexa™, will encourage more parents to opt for vaccination. What’s certain is that this vaccine will make it even more difficult for parents who wish to consent to only one or two single vaccines to do so. Although not disclosed in its monograph, the polio viruses of Infanrix hexa™ are cultured on aborted human foetal tissue.

Pediacel®, unlike its predecessor, the 5-valent Pentacel™, does not require mixing of its Haemophilus component with the four other components prior to injection; all five components are contained in one vial of vaccine. Pentacel™ was introduced shortly after Haemophilus vaccine first became available. Prior to this, polio vaccine was administered together with diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines in a 4-valent vaccine or the four vaccines were administered as a separate polio vaccine and a 3-valent DTP vaccine. It was serious adverse reactions to DTP vaccine that gave rise to much more wary vaccine consumerism starting in the 1980’s.

Pertussis deaths were rapidly declining well before the first widespread use of DTP in the late 1940s. And despite its use for more than six decades in one form or another, whooping cough outbreaks still occur in highly vaccinated populations. Long term universal vaccination with pertussis vaccines has demonstrated that immunity artificially -derived via vaccination is pathetically inept compared to immunity naturally-derived from infections. With increased vulnerability of babies of mothers who’ve never been exposed to pertussis infections, and increased vulnerability of teens and adults whose childhood vaccinations no longer protect them, pertussis vaccine is now scheduled for most of a Canadian’s lifespan. As well as Pediacel™ and Infanrix hexa™ for infants and children 2 mos to 6 yrs old, Adacel™, containing immune stimulants against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, is given to 12- to 54-year-olds.

Please see the separate Polio page in the Specific Vaccines section for more articles on this subject.

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