FDA Approves New Children's Vaccine For Six Diseases

Moms.com

By Allison Cooper

Published Jan 1, 2019

The schedule is complicated due to the fact that many of the vaccines require multiple doses, leading to multiple visits to the pediatrician by age 3.

Credit: iStock / LightFieldStudios

If you or a friend identify as an anti-vaxer, this new product, just approved by the FDA, might make you think again about your concerns. Many of the reasonings behind parents being against pediatric vaccines is due to the fact that children must get full series of vaccines. Why does this matter? Well, because the schedule is complicated due to the fact that many of the vaccines require multiple doses, leading to multiple visits to the pediatrician by age 3. This new vaccine could change everything.

On Wednesday, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Sanofi's new vaccine called Vaxelis, in partnership with Merck. The French pharmaceutical lab designed the vaccine for children aged 6 weeks to 4 years old and is designed to keep them from contracting diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, and invasive disease due to haemophilus influenzae type B, or Hib.

According to Today, Sanofi and Merck's vaccine is predicted to be available in 2020 or possibly later.

The CDC or Center For Disease Control and Prevention recommend children to be immunized against hepatitis b, measles, polio, pneumococcal disease, and rotavirus, as well as the fourteen preventable diseases. It's truly amazing what vaccines do for the population and the fourteen preventable diseases such as chickenpox and mumps are things that we overlook in our everyday lives, thanks to vaccinations. It's a wonderful thing not to have to worry about.

While most children are still receiving the full immunization panel, there is still plenty of parents who are refusing, so joining six doses together into one vaccine will make a tremendous difference in the way that child receive them as well as decreasing the amount of time that parents will have to rush kids to the pediatrician to get them. It's honestly a win/win for both parents and children.

With the predicted market release date of 2020, it means that this incredible medical breakthrough can be in our hands before we know it. So if you are planning on a baby, you know when shots will get just a little bit easier on you!