COMBINED VACCINES AND COMBINED IMMUNISATION STRATEGIES

Key words: Vaccines, Diphtheria, Rubella, Herd-immunity

Immunisation strategies are various and their effect partially unpredictable. In Japan, the strategy of immunising children to protect the elderly was effective, but the population did not accept it. The implications of immunising against rubella in childhood or during the fertile age are quite different. Early immunisation against measles has the consequence of reducing the herd immunity in adult age. Variability of immunisation campaigns against diphtheria in Russia and Poland produced an immunity gap, with consequent epidemics. The present immunisation strategy against pertussis, which implies an higher infection risk in the adult age, may also have to be revised.