Some states will let children enter school this year without a tetanus booster shot because of the continued shortage of tetanus vaccine, according to this story in the Wichita Eagle and this press release from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
Tetanus boosters should be given every 10 years, which means most 14- to 15-year-olds are due for a vaccine update. So, states are recommending that as soon as the vaccine becomes widely available again, students get vaccinated. Some states, like Kansas, have computerized school medical records, so school nurses can keep track of those who needs the shot.
The current shortage is the result of a decision by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories to suddenly stop making the vaccine, reports this article from American Medical News. That leaves Aventis Pasteur as the only manufacturer of the vaccine in the United States, so the shortage is expected to last at least until late this year. Hospitals and physicians' offices must now ration the vaccine to save it for emergency uses.
Tetanus is a bacterial infection that generally occurs in a cut or puncture wound. The infection causes headache, muscle stiffness and lockjaw. It can even cause death. The disease is easily prevented with the vaccine.
