ADVERSE REACTIONS IN CHILDREN VACCINATED WITH DPT AND PERTUSSIS VACCINE

A total of 508 children were vaccinated with DPT vaccine (Lot 76 327). The vaccination policy was that basic DPT vaccination started at the age of three months and three injections were given at one‐month intervals. In another 370 cases pertussis vaccine (Lot 76 012) was given. In these, vaccination started at the age of five weeks and three injections were given at four‐week intervals. In the children basically vaccinated with DPT vaccine some local reactions occurred in 26/508(5.1%) cases and systemic reactions in 48/508(9.4%). In the children basically vaccinated with pertussis vaccine local reactions occurred in 13/370(3.5%) cases and systemic reactions in 33/370(8.9%).Booster vaccination with DPT vaccine (Lot 76 327) was given to 565 children aged one–6 years, while 138 children aged 2–6 years were booster vaccinated with pertussis vaccine (Lot 76 012). The children booster vaccinated with DPT vaccine exhibited some local reactions in 118/565(20.9%) cases and some systemic reactions in 53/565(9.3%). In the children vaccinated with pertussis vaccine local reactions occurred in 14/138(10.1%) cases and systemic reactions in 7/138(5.1%). None of the vaccinated children developed any severe neurological or systemic complications from vaccination.DPT and pertussis vaccine contain equal amounts (about 5 000 million cells/ml vaccine) of the Bordetella pertussis strains 18 530 and 1 772 and aluminium hydroxy phosphate as adjuvant. One dose vaccine was 0.5 ml.