Safer Shots?Immunization immunization: see immunity; vaccination. rates are at their highest level ever, and childhood infectious diseases are at an all-time low, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Department of Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Health and Human Services, HHS . (If you have questions about the current western medical approach to immunizations, call their National Immunization Hotline at 1-800-232-2522.) They report that the current four-dose oral polio vaccine will soon be replaced by two injections and two oral doses. The change is designed to prevent the eight to ten cases of vaccine-associated paralytic paralytic /par·a·lyt·ic/ (par?ah-lit´ik) 1. affected with or pertaining to paralysis. 2. a person affected with paralysis. par·a·lyt·ic adj. 1. polio caused each year by the existing oral vaccine, which is made from a weakened form of the live virus. Recommended ages for the doses are two, four, and six months, with a booster shot between four and six years. The new Whooping Cough vaccine whooping cough vaccine n. See pertussis vaccine. still calls for shots at two, four, and six months, but the new vaccine reduces the chance of reactions. -- Working Mother, December 1996 |
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