What is the difference between dtap and dtp

A healthcare professional has diagnosed your child with specific illnesses or conditions. You or your child have had a life-threatening allergic reaction or have a severe allergy.

You or your child have had a previous reaction to similar vaccines or a healthcare professional has diagnosed you or your child with specific illnesses or conditions. A combination vaccine contains 2 or more vaccines in a single shot in order to decrease the number of shots given. The Food and Drug Administration licensed 12 combination vaccines for use in the United States to help protect against diphtheria and tetanus. Nine of these vaccines also help protect against whooping cough.

Some of the vaccines include protection against other diseases as well, including polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b disease, and hepatitis B. Upper-case letters in these abbreviations mean the vaccine has full-strength doses of that part of the vaccine. Vaccines that help protect against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough differ in how well they work against each disease. The diphtheria and tetanus toxoid components of these vaccines work well for people who receive the primary series.

The primary series is three doses for people 7 years or older and four doses for children younger than 7. The vaccines protect:. In studies showing how well the whooping cough component works for children who get all five doses, DTaP fully protects:. In studies showing how well the whooping cough component works when women get Tdap during pregnancy, the vaccine protects:.

In general, diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccines work well, but cannot prevent all cases of these serious diseases. Below is information about how well each of the vaccines work against each disease. Diphtheria was once a major cause of illness and death among children. The United States recorded , cases of diphtheria in , resulting in 15, deaths. Starting in the s, diphtheria rates dropped quickly in the United States and other countries that began widely vaccinating.

However, the disease continues to play a role globally. In , countries reported more than 16, cases to the World Health Organization, but many more cases likely go unreported. Studies estimate that diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccines protect nearly all people 95 in for approximately 10 years. Protection decreases over time, so adults need to get a Td or Tdap booster shot every 10 years to stay protected. The United States introduced the first tetanus-toxoid containing vaccine into the routine childhood immunization schedule in the late s.

The CDC recommends that Tdap be given between 27 and 36 weeks in every pregnancy. Even if a pregnant person has had a Tdap vaccine in the past 10 years, it should be given again.

Pertussis whooping cough can be very severe in newborns. Giving Tdap in pregnancy provides the newborn with some protection. Both DTaP and Tdap contain vaccines against tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough, which is also called pertussis. The vaccine names come from the first letter of each disease it protects against. When an upper-case letter is used, the vaccine for that disease is full strength. Lower-case letters mean it contains a lower dose of the vaccine.

DTaP contains full doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccines. Tdap contains a full dose of the tetanus vaccine and a lower dose of diphtheria and whooping cough vaccines.

This means broken down parts of the bacterium Bordetella pertussis that causes whooping cough is used to make the vaccine. In the past, the whole bacterium was used in the vaccine, but it tended to cause more side effects. For babies and children under age 7, DTaP is used. This provides better protection early on. Visit the VICP website external icon or call to learn about the program and about filing a claim.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. More information about: Diphtheria vaccination Tetanus vaccination Pertussis vaccination. On This Page. Why get vaccinated? DTaP vaccine Talk with your health care provider Risks of a vaccine reaction What if there is a serious problem? Tetanus can lead to serious health problems, including being unable to open the mouth, having trouble swallowing and breathing, or death.

Pertussis can be extremely serious especially in babies and young children, causing pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage, or death. Can you guide me in determining how to make the decision about which vaccine to choose? You should use DTaP in children younger than age 7 years. Although this is an off-label use of the vaccines, it's important that you vaccinate these vulnerable children with Tdap as well as any other adolescent or adult who hasn't received Tdap previously.

I need to know how to catch-up a child who is 12 years old and received 1 dose of DTaP vaccine at age 2 years and a dose of Tdap at age 11 years.

This child needs to complete the primary series with 1 dose of Td or Tdap, administered no earlier than 6 months after the Tdap dose given at age 11 years.

After that, the child needs a booster dose of Td or Tdap every 10 years. It includes a catch-up schedule for children who have fallen behind see www. A year-old has a written record of receiving two doses of DTaP at 2 and 5 months of age and one dose of Tdap at 15 years of age. Since she has had three doses of pertussis-containing vaccine, would she still need two additional doses of Td?

Since the first DTaP was received before 12 months of age and one Tdap dose has been given, this person needs one dose of Td or Tdap 6 calendar months after the Tdap dose.

A routine Td or Tdap booster should be administered every 10 years. According to the ACIP recommendations, which healthcare personnel should be vaccinated against pertussis with tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis Tdap vaccine? After receipt of Tdap, HCP should receive routine booster immunization against tetanus and diphtheria with either Td or Tdap vaccine.

Additionally, pregnant HCP should receive a dose of Tdap during each pregnancy. To view updated recommendations on the use of Td or Tdap in situations where only Td was previously recommended, go to www. How soon after the Td dose can we give him the dose of Tdap he needs? All parents, grandparents, healthcare workers, and all others of any age who have not already received Tdap, and especially those who are close contacts of infants younger than age 12 months, should receive a single dose of this vaccine as soon as possible to protect infants from pertussis.

For example, if you had immediately realized that you had mistakenly given the father-to-be Td instead of Tdap, you could have given him the needed Tdap dose at the same visit at which you gave him the erroneous Td dose. Can a booster dose of Tdap be given to people age 65 years and older? ACIP recommends a dose of Tdap be given to all adults, including those age 65 years or older, especially adults who have or anticipate having close contact with an infant younger than age 12 months e. Please review the current recommendations for the use of Tdap in adults.

When feasible, give Boostrix to adults age 65 and older. However, either vaccine product Adacel or Boostrix provides protection and is considered valid for use in people in this age group. Is there an upper age limit for Tdap administration? For example, should I vaccinate an year-old? There is no upper age limit for Tdap vaccination.

A dose of Tdap is recommended for all adults. In addition, Tdap may be administered in any situations where Td only was previously recommended. For a person entering a long-term-care facility at age 70 or older, if we cannot document that the resident has had a primary series of three doses of tetanus-containing vaccine, is the right course of action upon admission to give a Tdap first, then a Td or Tdap in 1 to 2 months, followed by a Td or Tdap in 6 to 12 months, and then a Td or Tdap booster every 10 years?

Be sure to document doses administered so a primary series does not need to be repeated in the future. If a teen or adult patient never received Tdap but received a dose of Td vaccine 2 years ago, should I wait 8 more years before administering a dose of Tdap to the patient?

ACIP recommends that people age 11 years and older who have not yet received Tdap receive a dose of Tdap now. If a teen or adult mistakenly received a dose of Td when they should have received Tdap, what is the optimal time to give the missing Tdap dose? As soon as possible, even if it is the same day. We recently saw a year-old man who remembers that he received a "tetanus booster" in another state within the past 2 years.

The problem is he can't remember if he received Tdap or Td, and we can't obtain an immunization record. His wife is pregnant, and we would like to immunize him against pertussis as a way to protect their soon-to-be-born child.

Should we give him Tdap in this situation? Whenever you lack vaccination documentation and vaccination is indicated, give the patient Tdap.

Can the parents of a young infant be given a dose of Tdap right after birth to protect themselves and, indirectly, their newborn from pertussis, even though they had a dose of Td vaccine less than two years ago? If not previously vaccinated with Tdap, parents should receive a single dose of Tdap as soon as possible to protect their baby from pertussis, regardless of the time interval since the last dose of Td.

Other household contacts that are not up to date with their pertussis-containing vaccinations should also be appropriately vaccinated.

Preferably, they should be vaccinated before the infant is born. The mother should have received a dose of Tdap in the third trimester of pregnancy see section below. Can Tdap be given at the same visit as other vaccines? Tdap can be administered with all other vaccines that are indicated e. Each vaccine should be administered at a different anatomic site using a separate syringe. Someone in our clinic gave DTaP to a year-old instead of Tdap. How should this be handled?

The DTaP recipient received the appropriate amount of tetanus toxoid and MORE diphtheria toxoid and pertussis antigen than is recommended. Count the dose as Tdap, but take measures to prevent this error in the future. The patient does not need a repeat dose of Tdap. A pertussis outbreak is occurring in our town, with many cases happening in the schools. Is there a recommendation for boosting middle- and high-school students with an additional dose of Tdap during an outbreak if students have already had 1 dose?

Revaccination of individuals who are up to date on Tdap immunization with an additional dose of Tdap during a pertussis outbreak is currently not recommended. Tdap and Pregnancy Back to top Can Tdap be administered to pregnant women? In June ACIP voted to recommend that pregnant women who have never received the Tdap vaccine be vaccinated to optimize the concentration of maternal antibodies transferred to the fetus.

ACIP made this recommendation with the goal of protecting newborns with maternal antibodies and decreasing the risk of transmission of pertussis to infants shortly after birth. In October , ACIP voted to recommend administering Tdap vaccination early in the through week "window" to maximize passive antibody transfer to the infant. Fewer babies are hospitalized for and die from pertussis when Tdap is given during pregnancy rather than during the postpartum period.

When a woman gets Tdap during pregnancy, maternal pertussis antibodies transfer to the newborn, protecting the baby against pertussis in early life, before the baby is old enough to have received at least 3 doses of DTaP.

Tdap also protects the mother, making it less likely that she will get infected with pertussis during or after pregnancy and thus less likely that she will transmit it to her infant. The recommendations for the use of Tdap in pregnancy were updated in See www. How effective is giving Tdap during pregnancy at preventing pertussis in early infancy? These findings are similar to other studies from the United Kingdom and the United States that suggest that vaccinating the mother during pregnancy is highly effective at protecting infants against pertussis.

When infants do get pertussis, their infection is less severe if their mother received Tdap during pregnancy. Another U. That same study showed that no infants born to vaccinated mothers required intubation or died of pertussis. Links to published research on Tdap vaccination during pregnancy are available here: www. If a woman did not receive Tdap during pregnancy, and it is uncertain whether she received a dose of Tdap prior to her pregnancy, should she receive a dose of Tdap postpartum?

If there is no written documentation that she received a dose of Tdap prior to or during pregnancy, a dose of Tdap should be administered to her immediately postpartum. If there is no documentation of a pregnant woman ever receiving Td or Tdap, what schedule should we follow? The recommended schedule for the primary series given to an unvaccinated person is dose 1 now, dose 2 in 4 weeks, and dose 3 in 6 to 12 months. Tdap should replace at least 1 dose of Td, preferably between 27 and 36 weeks' gestation to maximize the maternal antibody response and passive antibody transfer to the infant.

Some women have closely spaced pregnancies. Should we give Tdap during each pregnancy, even if it means such women would get 2 doses within 12 months? ACIP reviewed available data on birth statistics and found that among U.

The majority of women who have two pregnancies have an interval of 13 months or more between births. ACIP concluded that 1 the interval between subsequent pregnancies is likely to be longer than is the persistence of maternal anti-pertussis antibodies, 2 most women would receive only 2 doses of Tdap, and 3 a small proportion of women would receive 4 or more doses.

A theoretical risk exists for severe local reactions e. However, the frequency of side effects depends on the vaccine's antigen content and product formulation, as well as on preexisting maternal antibody levels related to the interval since the last dose and the number of doses received. The risk for severe adverse events has likely been reduced with current vaccine formulations including Tdap , which contain lower doses of tetanus toxoid than did older vaccine formulations.

ACIP believes the potential benefit of preventing pertussis morbidity and mortality in infants outweighs the theoretical concerns of possible severe adverse events in mothers. If a woman received Tdap in early pregnancy, should she get it again in the third trimester?

No, it is not recommended to give another dose of Tdap in such cases. Optimal timing for Tdap administration is between 27 and 36 weeks' gestation because of transplacental antibody kinetics. According to ACIP recommendations published in MMWR on February 22, , "Tdap may be administered any time during pregnancy, but vaccination during the third trimester would provide the highest concentration of maternal antibodies to be transferred closer to birth.

Each time there is a pregnancy in the family, should fathers and other family members receive a Tdap booster to ensure adequate protection and boost the cocoon effect to protect the newborn from pertussis? ACIP does not recommend additional doses of Tdap for fathers or other family members or caregivers. The recommendation for Tdap vaccination with each pregnancy to optimize immunity for the infant applies only to the pregnant woman. At what gestational age of pregnancy should we vaccinate pregnant women with Tdap?

To maximize maternal antibody response and passive antibody transfer to the infant, the optimal time to administer Tdap is between 27 and 36 weeks' gestation, preferably during the early part of that window. However, Tdap can be administered at any time during pregnancy. We intend to start vaccinating family contacts of pregnant women with Tdap to protect the newborn. Can you tell me how long it takes for the Tdap vaccine to provide protection?

To best protect infants, CDC recommends that teens and adults who haven't been vaccinated receive Tdap 2 weeks or more before having contact with an infant. If a 2-week time frame is not available prior to coming into contact with an infant, administer the vaccine as soon as possible. If a pregnant woman got a dose of Td during pregnancy, how soon can she get her dose of Tdap?

While she should have been given Tdap rather than Td, she can receive her Tdap dose at any interval since the Td dose was given and preferably between 27 and 36 weeks gestation. A year-old received a dose of Tdap vaccine when she was 12 years old.

She is now pregnant. Should she get another dose of Tdap vaccine? ACIP recommends a dose of Tdap during each pregnancy irrespective of the patient's prior history of receiving Tdap. To maximize the maternal antibody response and passive antibody transfer to the infant, optimal timing for Tdap administration is between 27 and 36 weeks gestation. For more information, see www. Is there any contraindication to administering Tdap vaccine and Rhogam at the same time to a pregnant woman? Tdap is an inactivated vaccine and may be administered at the same time as Rhogam in a separate site with a separate syringe.

Scheduling Vaccines Back to top What schedule should I use to vaccinate adolescents or adults who never received the primary series of tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine? Children, age 7 years and older, and adults who have never received tetanus-containing vaccines, or whose vaccination history is unknown, should receive the 3-dose series. The amount of protection provided by one or more doses of Tdap in a person who has not previously received pertussis vaccine is not known.

Following the primary series, booster doses of Td or Tdap should be given every 10 years thereafter. Is that okay? The fourth dose of DTaP may be given as early as age 12 months if at least 6 months have passed since the third dose.

You should try to achieve at least 4 total doses. Give additional doses of DTaP with 4 week intervals until you achieve 3 total doses. Then, if 6 months pass and the child has not turned seven years old, give the 4th dose of DTaP: if the child has turned seven years old, you may administer a dose of Tdap vaccine at that time.

A 7-year-old has a history of 3 doses of DTaP, appropriately spaced, between 4 years and 6 years of age. Is her DTaP series complete? Although the child would be considered complete for tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, she is not complete for pertussis vaccine.

If the child is age 10, the dose counts as the adolescent dose and no additional dose at age 11 or 12 years is recommended. If a child didn't have the recommended 6-month interval between DTaP doses 3 and 4, should it be repeated?