Advertisement

Can these vaccines be given together?

Prof HPS Sachdeva
Prof HPS Sachdev,
Senior Consultant Pediatrics,
Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research,
New Delhi

Q: My 21 years old daughter is going to USA for higher studies. She has been asked to get 2 vaccination doses of MMR, 1 dose of meningitis, 2 doses of chicken pox and 1 dose of tetanus. She was vaccinated for MMR in childhood. Does she need 2 doses of MMR now? What should be the interval between 2 doses of MMR? Can the meningitis vaccine be simultaneously given with MMR and chicken pox? What is best possible schedule to follow?

A:Only one dose of MMR will suffice. All these vaccinations can be given on the same day so that the body responds adequately immunologically to all of them. If not given on the same day, then an interval of four weeks will be necessary.