A new study in Vaccine finds that giving 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and rotavirus vaccine during the same visit is as safe as giving them separately and lowers overall costs. Among infants in Shanghai, systemic adverse event rates were 4.82% for PCV13 alone, 4.35% for rotavirus alone, and 4.11% when the two were administered together, with no statistically significant differences between schedules.
From a societal perspective, partial co-administration (co-administering 1–3 doses across the series) reduced total costs by 2.29%, 2.20%, and 1.07% versus separate visits, driven largely by savings in indirect and non-medical costs (e.g., fewer clinic trips). The authors conclude that concurrent vaccination can simplify crowded schedules, cut family time and travel costs, and improve program efficiency without compromising safety, useful evidence for urban immunization programs considering co-administration to boost coverage and convenience.
Thumbnail image credit: Shutterstock / Yingna Cai
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