Well over half of all purulent childhood meningitis was caused by the disease. Before 1990, one in 500 children became infected with the pathogen. After that, vaccination against Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib) was introduced with great success: Infection numbers dropped to about 100 each year. According to information from the Robert Koch Institute, Hib infections with epiglottitis or meningitis are now registered in only about 50 people per year.
But the flip side of this success is that many people believe vaccinations are no longer considered absolutely necessary. Yet vaccination is well tolerated by all children, with only occasional reactions at the vaccination site such as temporary redness, swelling and pain or brief swelling of the lymph nodes. Rather rare are flu-like symptoms or skin rash.
How and when is vaccination given?
The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute recommends vaccination against Hib for all infants after the completion of the second month of life according to the vaccination calendar for children and adolescents. For basic immunization, two vaccine doses are administered at least eight weeks apart from the completed second month of life (at the age of four months). A third vaccination is given at least six months apart from the previous second vaccination, i.e. between the completed 11th and 14th month of life. Depending on the vaccination schedule, further vaccination may be administered at the age of three months.
For basic immunization, the Hib vaccination can be given, for example, with a six-way combination vaccine at the same time against tetanus, poliomyelitis, pertussis, diphtheria and hepatitis B. Booster vaccinations against the Hib bacterium are not provided once basic immunization is complete.
From the age of five years, the Hib vaccination is administered only in exceptional cases. The vaccination is a dead vaccine that contains only characteristic surface structures (antigens) of the bacterium. This makes the vaccination well tolerated. The vaccine is injected into a muscle, either the side of the buttocks or the upper arm or thigh muscle. If the child is sick vaccination should not be given, but the pediatrician carefully examines the young patient before vaccination.
What happens during vaccination?
When vaccinated, one becomes immune without having to go through the full force of the particular disease. The human defense system receives whole pathogens or parts of pathogens via the vaccine. The body reacts with its defense mechanisms by forming antibodies. Vaccinations with attenuated pathogens may occasionally cause a weak clinical picture of the respective disease. Vaccines can contain either attenuated, reproducible bacteria or viruses (live vaccines such as measles, chickenpox, typhoid orally) or inactivated pathogens (inactivated vaccines such as tetanus, diphtheria or hepatitis B).
Inactivated vaccines contain either the whole, inactivated microorganism, or only those parts of it that can trigger a protective immune response. The goal of vaccination is to enable the body to respond much more quickly, or to already have defenses available, in the event of a subsequent “real” infection with the pathogen.