Six Vaccines in One: Your Baby's First Shot

INFANRIX hexa™ manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline is an alternate vaccine to Pentacel® or Pediacel™ plus Recombivax HB®. It contains Hepatitis B vaccine as well as the five vaccines that are in Pentacel® and Pediacel™ and is licensed for use in babies 6 mos-2yrs old. Please refer to our article, ‘Five Vaccines in One: Your Baby’s First Shot’, in this section of ‘Specific Vaccines’ and the sections on Hepatitis B and Polio to learn about the related diseases. Here, we discuss INFANRIX hexa™.

The July, 2008 INFANRIX hexa™ product monograph lists 10 immune stimulating biological ingredients: one against each of diphtheria, tetanus, Haemophilus influenzae B and Hepatitis B; three against polio; and three against pertussis.

Chemical ingredients listed are: lactose, sodium chloride, aluminum salts, formaldehyde, polysorbate 20 and 80, M199, potassium chloride, disodium phosphate, monopotassium phosphate, glycine, neomycin sulphate and polymixin B sulphate.

Disconcertingly, the monograph states: “INFANRIX hexa™ has not been evaluated in the Canadian Native Population.” (Does this mean the Canadian First Nations population or the non-immigrant population of Canada as a whole?) The only vaccine trial populations named in the monograph are Americans, Italians and Germans. The monograph states: “While acute encephalopathy and permanent neurologic damage have not been reported to be causally linked nor in temporal association with administration of INFANRIX hexa™, data is limited at this time.” It continues, “Studies suggest that when given whole-cell DPT vaccine, infants and children with a history of convulsions in first-degree family members (i.e. siblings and parents) have a 2.4-fold increased risk for neurologic events compared to those without such histories.”

As well as “unusual” neurologic events, the monograph admits, “Extremely rare cases of Sudden Unexpected Death (SUD) in close temporal association to vaccination with INFANRIX hexa™ have been reported in the first year of life.”

Other information lacking for this poorly-studied vaccine includes possible interactions with foods, herbs and lab tests. These, says the monograph, “have not been established.”