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It is currently recommended that diphtheria-tetanus- pertussis (DPT) immunizations be administered to young infants (2 to 6 months old) in the anterolateral thigh and to older children (4 to 5 years old) in the deltoid muscle. The dual purpose of this study was to determine at what age this change in injection site should occur and to assess the effect of needle length on adverse reactions. These authors vaccinated 205 18-month-old children with a combined DPT- inactivated polio vaccine in one of three ways: injection into the deltoid muscle with a 16-mm, 25-gauge needle; into the anterolateral thigh with a 16-mm, 25-gauge needle; and into the anterolateral thigh with a 25-mm, 25-gauge needle.
Systemic reactions occurred less frequently when…