Future shots

Researchers are trying to make this prickly childhood rite of passage even more attractive, according to Ronald Gold, a retired professor emeritus of paediatrics at the University of Toronto and author of Your Child’s Best Shot: A Parent’s Guide to Vaccination. Here are just a few of the advances that are in the works:

• No-needle jabs Scientists are taking the sting out of shots via nasal drops or jet injectors that don’t puncture the skin. (A nasal-spray flu vaccine is already available in the US; however, the manufacturer has no plans to apply for approval in Canada.)

• More protection per pinch To cut down on the number of needles kids need, researchers have come up with more combination vaccines.

• Improved immunity for newborns Researchers are investigating whether vaccinating moms against whooping cough during pregnancy can protect babies until they’re old enough to get the shot. (Vaccines don’t work until an infant’s immune system is mature enough to form its own antibodies.)

Powerful protection against potentially fatal diseases, without the poke? Sounds like a great way to give childhood jabs a shot in the arm.

Charting change

Disease	Complications	Peak no. of cases a year before immunization	Peak no. of cases a year after immunization
Diphtheria	• death (5–10%)	9,010	1
Pertussis (whooping cough)	• seizures, breathing interruptions, coma • in babies: 1 in 400 chance of brain damage/death	19,878	4,751
Poliomyelitis	• paralysis (1% of cases; 5–10% of those die)	1,584	0
Hib (serious infections in kids under age 5)	• death (5%) • brain damage (10–15%) • deafness (15–20%)	526	17
Mumps	• inflammation of testicles (20–30% of males past puberty) • inflammation of ovaries (5% of females past puberty) • infertility (rare)	43,671	202
Rubella	• encephalitis (brain inflammation) 1 in 6,000 cases	37,917	29

Source: Public Health Association of Canada.

Originally published in Today's Parent, October 2008