Somebody should make a biography of Coy Barefoot, the author of Thomas Jefferson on Leadership.

Excellent interview! Would love to have it in text form for quoting.

Sometimes I wonder - and this is just a thought - I don't know - would it be safer to vaccinate infants for pertussis alone, or pertussis and diphtheria, and leave tetanus for later? A little baby who doesn't know how to crawl yet is not at risk for tetanus. And diphtheria is very rare in the U.S. these days. Infants are more at risk from pertussis. The down side of giving single shots is that each shot is another dose of preservatives and adjuvants. But combo shots may make the immune system more confused, overstimulated. Also, since the pertussis shot isn't very effective the schedule demands four doses. But do babies need four doses of diphtheria and tetanus vaccine too? Adults only get the tetanus vaccine every ten years. Maybe they should consider giving a pertussis-only vaccine, and then pertussis-diptheria later, and pertussis-tetanus even later. Because there is a risk for pertussis, they give four doses of diphtheria and tetanus too, which is typical overkill philosophy - the more the merrier.

I have to wade through all that information some day. Is all that online and in a readable form and not all dry material?

Birgit
Barbara Fisher has it all written down in the archives of The National Vaccine Information Center.

As far back as 1970 Pittman documented the DPT causing hypoglycemia in infants.

Listening and agreeing with what transpires in the interview, I got to thinking about the history of vaccines and I thought to myself that when I received vaccines when I was a child I received a shot that came from a single dose, and also there was no DTaP. I remember the doctor taking a small glass ampoule from a shelf and using a little tiny saw to saw off the top of this little bottle from which he then drew all the fluid that was inside and injected it into my arm. There was only one tetanus (T) shot, not any P (pertussis) nor any D (diphtheria). All the vaccines were given separately. I know this because I worked at a hospital pharmacy in the '60s. That got me to thinking about the history of the combination of DTaP and what I found was this: DIPHTHERIA, TETANUS AND ACELLULAR PERTUSSIS
VACCINE (DTaP): A CASE STUDY

It says that "This case study provides an overview of the U.S. experience with DTaP B the combination vaccine that includes diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis components. While DTaP is a relatively new vaccine, first approved for use in the U.S. in 1991, its history spans well over half a century and its story in many ways reflects key developments in immunization markets,
infrastructure and policy.

In tracing the history of DTaP, this review is divided into four sections: (1) The Legacy of DTP; (2) Initial Development and Licensure of DTaP; (3) Market History: Production, Supply, Purchase, and Pricing Issues; and (4) Future Directions for DTaP."

Reading further it says that the combination vaccine was first tried in the '40s. Apparently this combination vaccine was never used in Germany where I grew up. What the history tells me, though, is that the currently used vaccine was first approved for use in 1991. I find that interesting because apparently there must have been problems with a previous version.

My question now is: What prompted the revamping of the pertussis component at that time? I haven't read the article above. But my train of thought leads me to be curious about that.