May 16, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has approved the sale of a new formulation of the vaccine that protects children against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. The decision may ease serious shortages.
Both the new Daptacel and the old version of the vaccine, Tripedia, are sold by the same company, Aventis Pasteur.
Daptacel will be produced at Aventis Pasteur's manufacturing facility in Canada. Tripedia is made in Pennsylvania.
The added supply from the new version should boost the nation's inventory of the DTaP vaccine, Aventis said.
"We are hopeful it will help to alleviate the shortage," said FDA spokesman Jason Brodsky.
Doctors began rationing tetanus shots more than a year ago, when two makers of the vaccines suddenly quit the business. That left Aventis Pasteur the sole supplier, and it had struggled to increase production to meet the demand.
The FDA said both Daptacel and Tripedia have been shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective, but are slightly different formulations that have not been directly compared.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
