Vaccinations are not our best associations. As children, we were afraid of sticking a needle, it seemed to us that this was the worst that could happen to a person in a medical facility. Fortunately, all of these unpleasant stings allowed us to avoid many unpleasant and dangerous moments. For years, vaccines have been one of the most effective methods of fighting diseases that entire societies have to deal with. They completely eliminate them or make us go through deadly diseases not so long ago. Despite this, many people distance themselves from this type of medical help. There are more and more opinions about the alleged harmfulness of the newest forms of vaccines, most of them unfortunately drawn out of the finger. However, it is still worth learning as much as possible about vaccines, which will allow us to understand how they work, so that they will no longer be perceived as black magic.
DTP – what does the abbreviation mean?
This type of vaccination is actually a way to get rid of three diseases in one go, it is then called a combined vaccine. DTP is used in children over 2 months of age and allows the body to support the fight against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.
Each of these three diseases affects the baby’s respiratory system, making it difficult to breathe and ventilate the body properly. They all rely on a roughly similar mechanism, although they are caused by different bacteria.
- Whooping cough is characterized by severe attacks of coughing associated with deep wheezing, which can lead to nerve damage and, in infants, to apnea, which can be fatal if left untreated.
- Tetanus consists of a strong muscle contraction, often combined with trismus, which leads to the characteristic stretching of the body. As a result of more frequent contractions, the body changes the entire system of functioning (increased blood pressure, urinary retention, arrhythmias appear), which most often leads to death.
- Diphtheria attacks selected parts of the body (most often the throat and larynx, less often the nose, ears, skin), causing fever, swelling of parts of the body and creating characteristic whitish raids with congestion around. It prevents the patient from breathing, and consequently leads to his death.
Each of these three diseases is infectious and spreads by droplets, so far the most common patients have been newborns and children, for whom treatment options are limited (hence the best method so far is prevention through vaccination). The DTP vaccine contains antitoxins and dead bacteria, thanks to which our body learns how to deal with the disease without the need for additional external medications. As a result, the body learns not only about how to fight disease, but also how to recognize and destroy bacteria earlier, before they even start working properly in the body. Over time, the so-called vaccinations are still performed. a booster dose to refresh the information in our body about diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.
DTP vaccine and reimbursement
The biggest problem in the case of many vaccinations is their price, in the case of DTP it ranges from 150 to 300 PLN. In the case of the reimbursed version, we are not dealing with a combined vaccination, but with three separate injections. There is no difference in the effectiveness of the vaccine between the two methods. The only noticeable downside to the refunded version is that the child has to experience more stings, which means more stress for them. Combination vaccines primarily mean a smaller sum of injections. Once due to the combination of several vaccinations, and two due to additional antitoxins that support the body’s immunization process, thanks to which we save the child about 6-10 pricks.
DTP vaccination calendar
It is also worth knowing something about the vaccination schedule, thanks to which we will find out when the first and the next dose of the vaccine can and should be administered to the child. As already mentioned, in the case of DTP, a child can receive an injection as early as the second month of life. The next two doses are taken at intervals of about 1-2 months, and the last, fourth, is taken only at 16-18 months of age. There are also moments for the so-called booster dose – in 6 and 14 years of age (also recently performed as compulsory vaccinations in 19 years of age, but these are only measures against diphtheria and tetanus). If our baby showed any signs of sensitivity to the whole-cell version, or if it was born before 37 weeks of pregnancy or with a body weight below 2500 g, the cell-free version is administered.