No need for adult booster tetanus or diphtheria: study
No significant difference between countries that routinely give adult boosters and those that don't
There is no evidence that adult booster vaccinations for tetanus and diphtheria are beneficial in many countries, a study shows.
US researchers compared the incidence of tetanus and diphtheria in 31 European and North American countries with or without a recommendation for adult booster vaccination, using WHO case reports from 2001-16.
Specifically, countries that vaccinate adults every 5-20 years were compared with countries that do not routinely vaccinate adults for tetanus or diphtheria.
As reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the review of 13.4 billion person-years of incidence data revealed no significant decline in tetanus incidence rates among countries that vaccinate adults (risk ratio 0.78).
