With some groups arguing against the safety of vaccines, parents continue to have misgivings about vaccination, and having their children contract a fever soon after a routine immunization doesn’t help soothe that fear. Recent research has found that such fevers are normal when certain vaccines—for instance, those for flu and pneumonia—are administered together.
The health news network Healio ran an article about the study, which was conducted by a team of nine doctors and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). During the study, the researchers observed an increased risk of fever and febrile seizures on the day the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV 13) were simultaneously administered, or on the day after. TIV is used to prevent seasonal influenza or reduce its severity, whereas PCV 13 guards against infection from Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacteria known to cause sepsis, meningitis and pneumonia.
Although the increased incidence of fever and seizures was significant, the study concluded that, due to the short-lived nature of the fever and the harmless nature of febrile seizures, simultaneous administration of both vaccines was safe. In fact, it went on to recommend that normal immunization schedules should still be followed in normal healthy individuals.
The study was also remarkable in that it was the first time text messaging was used to help gather more timely data and drive large-scale data collection efficiently.
With the release of the study’s results, many qualified Lone Tree pediatricians are breathing a sigh of relief. While these incidents were previously observed, sound medical research such as this will help physicians set parents’ expectations, and reassure them that post-vaccination fever is safe and can be a sign of a healthy immune response to vaccination.
Parents can then take the necessary precautions to reduce the child’s temperature or prepare measures in advance to control the fever. Proactive monitoring of their children’s condition should also help lower the risk of any serious complications.
Nevertheless, parents who are not convinced with the published report can contact expert physicians, like those at Lone Tree Pediatrics, for clarification and advice. If necessary, the doctors can work around the concerns of parents and tailor immunization schedules to avoid simultaneous administration of the two vaccines.
(Article Information and Image from Simultaneous TIV, PCV13 increased fever risk in young children, Healio, January 9, 2014)
About Debra Berry
