Hib Vaccines

HIB vaccine is a conjugate vaccine normally given as a shot in the arm. As the disease is not found on children, it is recommended to use the vaccine for children above 5 years of age. This is inactivated vaccine made by the combination of polysaccharide to protein. You can combine this vaccine with DTP or Hepatitis B vaccine. The number of doses depends upon the brand of vaccine. You can change the brand for next dose. HIb vaccines are interchangeable.

Children above 5 years and adults need to be vaccinated. People of high risk group like people suffering from sickle cell disease, HIV, cancer etc must get vaccinated with HIB vaccine. Three or four doses are needed depending upon the brand used. The vaccine is safe and will not produce any serious side effects. Redness and swelling in the injection spot is normal. Some children may have high fever that can be curable with normal medicines. The swelling will not last long more than 2 or 3 days.

The vaccine is effective among all children vaccinated. It shows immunity even after first dose. Yet if any person faces any serious allergic reactions to first dose must not receive the second dose. HIB vaccine does not produce HIB disease as it contains only a part of HIB microbe. Only the entire HIB bacteria can cause the disease.

HUIB is a very serious disease that may cause infections in the membrane that covers the brain. It may also cause deafness, blindness or mental illness. It is spread from person to person contact or through infected person's respiratory droplets. HIB treatment includes antibodies for 10 days and hospitalization. Yet 5 % children died of this disease though treatment was given. So preventing the diseases through vaccination is advisable.

After the introduction of HIB vaccine the diseases is decreased by 99%. The remaining 1 % occurs because of unvaccination or partial vaccination to the children. All the licensed HIB vaccines are proved o be very effective and safe. However the disease is not completely eradicated from the world. This is because some people refuse to use the vaccine. So HIB bacteria are found all over the world. So it is recommended to get vaccinated at the early childhood.

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