DTMT Network

Children are exposed to an innumerable number of germs, some of which can cause serious diseases. A child’s immune system is still developing, and it cannot fight against all deadly diseases.

The 6 in 1 combination vaccination protects children from 6 serious illnesses: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, haemophilus influenzae type B, hepatitis B, and poliomyelitis.

Dr Kishore Kumar, Senior consultant Neonatologist and Founder Chairman of Cloud Nine group of Hospitals, said, “Combination vaccination is a boon for parents. It provides protection for their children against multiple diseases in a single injection, decreases side effects, and reduces pain. It has also helped increase the acceptance of childhood vaccinations.”

“Multiple surveys across the world show that more injections translate into less compliance. Combination vaccination helps to reduce the problem of non-compliance to the immunisation schedule,” he added.

According to the immunization schedule of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, children would need to take the DTP-IPV-Hib-HepB vaccines at the age of 6, 10 and 14 weeks. 6-in-1 vaccination provides protection for these 6 diseases. 6 in 1 vaccination would mean that children take only 2 injections (i.e., 6 in 1 vaccination and pneumococcal vaccination) and 1 oral vaccine (rotavirus vaccination) on each of these occasions.

Without the combination shot, children would have to take many more injections.   

In recent years, India has intensified its efforts to increase immunization coverage in the country.

A recent study has also demonstrated that there has been a marked improvement in immunization coverage in rural areas, but limited improvement in urban areas.

More needs to be done to make parents aware of the benefits of immunization and the availability of vaccines, to increase full immunization coverage to 90% and beyond. With combination vaccinations, children receive fewer shots but get the same level of protection as they would have with separate vaccines.