Bad vaccine reac tion

[chiam margalit]

(Also posted to misc.kids)

My 11 yr old son had to have a Tetanus shot in order to enter school
in the fall. It's a state requirement and they let me go all last year
without the shot, but we were told in no uncertain terms that he HAD
to have the vaccination before the first day of school this year or he
would not be admitted.

So I took him to the ped and we got what is known as the Td shot, for
tetanus and diphtheria. I guess you can't get a single tetanus shot,
because this is what they had, and it was take it or leave it. We took
it.

His arm really hurt him all day, but he struggled against the shot and
didn't relax his arm at all, and he's so skinny that he swears the
nurse hit the bone, and it's not without possibility. But... the next
day he awoke with a fever of 102, a horrible headache, and really felt
terrible the entire day. He even put himself to bed at 9 pm, which is
unheard of, after sleeping most of the day away.

I read the pink instructions provided by the pediatrician from the CDC
and nowhere on the entire paper does it say fever is a possible side
affect of this shot. So I called the CDC, who told me to call my
pediatrician to have her report this reaction to VAER (Vaccine Adverse
Event Reporting), as it was catagorized as an 'unusual' reaction,
possible an allergic reaction.

My pediatrician wasn't very encouraging and thought he might have some
other bug that just hit on the same day as the shot. This is indeed
possible since his sister had a fever earlier in the week and was sick
as a dog for one day. But the ped didn't know this.

I'm confused. The CDC seemed to think that this was important enough
to file a report, but my pediatrician didn't think so. I really don't
know what to think. I'm not happy that this kid is so sick, and I do
believe it is the shot because his symptoms are not at all like his
sisters earlier in the week.

I'm also unhappy that the adverse reactions listed on the pink sheet
do not mention fever or severe headache, both of which he has, and
both of which the CDC consultant did agree were side affects.

We have never had any adverse reactions to any vaccine previously, and
my kids are all caught up on every single possible shot. I'm concerned
that the tenanus wasn't the issue, the diphtheria was indeed the
issue, and he wasn't even supposed to get this shot.

Does anyone know anything about this particular vaccination and does
anyone have any experience with reporting adverse reactions to the
CDC?

Thanks in advance,

Marjorie

[Scott Lindstrom]

chiam margalit wrote:
[snip]
>
> I'm also unhappy that the adverse reactions listed on the pink sheet
> do not mention fever or severe headache, both of which he has, and
> both of which the CDC consultant did agree were side affects.

I would say that fever/severe headache are probably not
listed as side-effects for the shots your son received.
The CDC consultant may have been thinking that since the
fever/headache followed the shot, they were indeed side
effects (Does that make sense?). So maybe the CDC
consultant was just agreeing with you that these were
side effects even though they may not in reality be.

> We have never had any adverse reactions to any vaccine previously, and
> my kids are all caught up on every single possible shot. I'm concerned
> that the tenanus wasn't the issue, the diphtheria was indeed the
> issue, and he wasn't even supposed to get this shot.

If your kid has not had a reaction before, and reactions
aren't common in your family, I would chalk this up to
your son reacting to the little bug his sister had in a
different way, due to vagaries in the different immune
systems. And it's an confusing coincidence that it happened
right after a vaccination.

Hope he's feeling better!

I am surprised, incidentally, that your school *requires*
the vaccination and does not allow you to sign an
affadavit and opt out or something like that.

Scott DD 10 and DS 7

[CBI]

"chiam margalit" > wrote in message
om...
> (Also posted to misc.kids)
>
> My 11 yr old son had to have a Tetanus shot in order to enter school
> in the fall. It's a state requirement and they let me go all last year
> without the shot, but we were told in no uncertain terms that he HAD
> to have the vaccination before the first day of school this year or he
> would not be admitted.

They have been letting people slide on the booster vaccinations because
there has been a shortage over the last few years. They have been saving the
limited supply of boosters for those that really need it - like people with
deep injuries.


> So I took him to the ped and we got what is known as the Td shot, for
> tetanus and diphtheria. I guess you can't get a single tetanus shot,
> because this is what they had, and it was take it or leave it. We took
> it.

You need to get both. Giving just tetanus toxoid alone does not work. There
is a very little bit of diptheria in there, just enough to help stimulate
the immune system to react to the tetanus (that is why the name has a little
"d"). There is a DT shot which is meant for kids who need to be immunized
against tetanus and diptheria but can't have the pertussis component that is
present in the usually given DTaP.


> His arm really hurt him all day, but he struggled against the shot and
> didn't relax his arm at all, and he's so skinny that he swears the
> nurse hit the bone, and it's not without possibility. But... the next
> day he awoke with a fever of 102, a horrible headache, and really felt
> terrible the entire day. He even put himself to bed at 9 pm, which is
> unheard of, after sleeping most of the day away.

Kids get fevers. Sometimes it happens the day after they play soccer, watch
TV, or eat ice-cream. That doesn't mean any of those things are to blame.
The important question is whether the kids get the fevers mor eoften the day
after the vaccine then on the other days.


> I read the pink instructions provided by the pediatrician from the CDC
> and nowhere on the entire paper does it say fever is a possible side
> affect of this shot.

All that implies is that it occurs infrequently enough that it didn't make
the list. it doesn't mean that it is not possible - just unlikely (or
currently believed to be unlikely).


> So I called the CDC, who told me to call my
> pediatrician to have her report this reaction to VAER (Vaccine Adverse
> Event Reporting), as it was catagorized as an 'unusual' reaction,
> possible an allergic reaction.

VAERS (the "s" is for "system,") database is just an unfiltered list of
adverse events that seems to have a temporal relation with vaccines, which
this fever certainly is. The reports do not imply causation. The reason for
this type of data gathering is because that is one good way they can look
and see if they are getting reports more often than would be expected - i.e.
are people reporting more of the events than one would expect by chance
alone?


> My pediatrician wasn't very encouraging and thought he might have some
> other bug that just hit on the same day as the shot. This is indeed
> possible since his sister had a fever earlier in the week and was sick
> as a dog for one day. But the ped didn't know this.

Sure it is possible and chances are you will never know for sure in your
son's case. However, the only way to find these links is if people report
these occurences.


> I'm confused. The CDC seemed to think that this was important enough
> to file a report, but my pediatrician didn't think so. I really don't
> know what to think. I'm not happy that this kid is so sick, and I do
> believe it is the shot because his symptoms are not at all like his
> sisters earlier in the week.

I think that is because the person you spoke with at the CDC realizes that
the reports are important raw data and that they should not be filtered by
suspicions of causation but your ped doesn't quite get this.


> I'm also unhappy that the adverse reactions listed on the pink sheet
> do not mention fever or severe headache, both of which he has,

How could it if nobody is reporting it?


> and
> both of which the CDC consultant did agree were side affects.

I doubt he stated it that strongly - at least he shouldn't have. He probably
said that they were possibly side effects.


> We have never had any adverse reactions to any vaccine previously, and
> my kids are all caught up on every single possible shot. I'm concerned
> that the tenanus wasn't the issue, the diphtheria was indeed the
> issue, and he wasn't even supposed to get this shot.

Like I said - there is no other way to give it.


> Does anyone know anything about this particular vaccination and does
> anyone have any experience with reporting adverse reactions to the
> CDC?

www.vaers.org/ (home page)
https://secure.vaers.org/VaersDataEntryintro.htm (for filing a report)

www.cdc.gov/nip/vaccine/tetanus/tet-faqs-public.htm (about the vaccine)
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/news/shortages/td-shortage5-25.htm (about the
shortage)

- BTW according to the CDC he should not have been given the booster
yet because there is still a shortage. I didn't mention it earlier because I
wanted to double check before saying anything. (
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vaccine/tetanus/tet-faqs-public.htm#due - see
question #5)

--
CBI

[Jeff]

"CBI" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "chiam margalit" > wrote in message
> om...
> > (Also posted to misc.kids)
> >
> > My 11 yr old son had to have a Tetanus shot in order to enter school
> > in the fall. It's a state requirement and they let me go all last year
> > without the shot, but we were told in no uncertain terms that he HAD
> > to have the vaccination before the first day of school this year or he
> > would not be admitted.
>
> They have been letting people slide on the booster vaccinations because
> there has been a shortage over the last few years. They have been saving
the
> limited supply of boosters for those that really need it - like people
with
> deep injuries.
>
>
> > So I took him to the ped and we got what is known as the Td shot, for
> > tetanus and diphtheria. I guess you can't get a single tetanus shot,
> > because this is what they had, and it was take it or leave it. We took
> > it.
>
> You need to get both. Giving just tetanus toxoid alone does not work.
There
> is a very little bit of diptheria in there, just enough to help stimulate
> the immune system to react to the tetanus (that is why the name has a
little
> "d"). There is a DT shot which is meant for kids who need to be immunized
> against tetanus and diptheria but can't have the pertussis component that
is
> present in the usually given DTaP.

CBI, I disagree with you here. The diphtheria component is there to provide
immunity to diphtheria.

There is less diphtheria toxin to decrease the risk of a serious reaction
while still ensuring diphtheria immunity. My source for this is The 1997 Red
Book: Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy
of Pediatrics, 24th Edition (look under diphtheria).

Jeff