What are the benefits of the DTaP vaccine?

The DTaP vaccine protects your child against three diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough).

Diptheria
This bacterial infection causes a thick gray coating to develop at the back of the throat that makes it hard to breathe and swallow, and can result in suffocation. If the infection is not treated, toxins produced by the bacteria may affect tissues and organs throughout the body, which can lead to heart failure or paralysis.

Death occurs in up 20 percent of cases in people under age 5 and over age 40. These numbers have changed little in the last 50 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Before the vaccine was developed in the 1920s, there were more than 175,000 cases a year on average in the United States. By contrast, since the year 2000, only five cases have been reported. But every year sees outbreaks of diphtheria in Eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia, and the Philippines. So while the risk of getting diphtheria in the United States is low, the disease is only a plane ride away.


Tetanus
Tetanus (also called lockjaw) is a bacterial infection that causes severe and painful muscle spasms, seizures, and paralysis. It's not contagious. The bacteria live in soil and dust and enter the body through a break in the skin. People can get tetanus from any kind of puncture wound, or from other types of injuries (even a tiny scratch) if they're not cleaned and cared for properly. Ten to 20 percent of reported cases end in death.

Since the vaccine came into widespread use in the 1940s, the number of tetanus cases in the United States has fallen from about 500 to about 50 a year.

Pertussis
Pertussis, better known as whooping cough, is a very contagious bacterial infection and one of the most common vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. Whooping cough causes coughing spells so severe that it's hard for children to eat, drink, or breathe. It can lead to pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death.

Before the vaccine was introduced in the 1940s, about 147,000 U.S. children came down with whooping cough every year. The number of cases in the United States dropped to a historic low of 1,010 in 1976 but then rose again, with more than 25,000 reported in 2005 as adolescents who had been vaccinated as babies lost their immunity and more babies went unvaccinated.

To counter this trend, an additional shot called the Tdap is now recommended at age 11 or 12. And one Tdap shot is also recommended, now, for adults who didn't have one during adolescence. Getting yourself vaccinated helps to protect your infant and other infants you're around.

Whooping cough remains a serious health problem among children in other parts of the world.