Pneumococcal vaccine - help!

Hi all,

I've just discovered the pnuemococcal vaccine Prevenar is not available in Vietnam. I might have to fly to Bangkok or Singapore to get DD vaccinated.

Does anyone know (or know where to direct me) how long you can delay the four-month pneumococcal vaccine? She had her other shots yesterday.

I have friends who were vaguely planning to visit but not for a few weeks. They could bring the vax in for me but I want to make sure it would still be effective, timing-wise. I'm especially worried that DD is going to be exposed to pneumococcol if babies here are not routinely vaccinated against it.

As an aside - I'm mightily ****ed off about this because the medical centre I go to assured me last year that all the vaccinations were available. I checked their recommended schedule against the Australian recommended schedule to make sure everything was in order. I could have brought the vaccine in with me when I returned to Vietnam in January. Now I've got all this stress and expense because someone lied to me. Grrrr.

You can delay it as long as you like, it wont make a difference to its effectiveness.

ok this si a bit sketchy as i dont have full immunisation history of your LO.

if they ahd the previnar at 2 months.
so she has had one previous dose.
then next one needs to be given within 4 weeks.

but if you wait till she is 12 months to get the second one can be given.. and 3rd dose is not needed.

i would reccomend getting them done at the 4 week intervals though as that gives you best cover.

it is not reccomended to wait longer than 4 weeks between immunisations for prevenar..

if you want PM with all teh details and i can work out the catch up schedule if you are going to miss a few vaccines..

My DD's prevenar were longer than 4 weeks, and although it may not be ideal, it is still fine, but as kawazuki suggests some doses may not be needed depending on how much time has passed.
A few weeks will be fine though. There is an immunisation handbook printed by the government that has all the recommendations in it, as well as catch up schedules. I borrowed a copy from my MCHN, you might find it useful.

Here is some more info, it says doses should be 4-8 weeks apart

http://www.dcgpa.com.au/_cms/CMS_ima...5B1%5D.214.pdf

Thanks for your help.
I've been flat out networking and begging for help for the past few days and I think my options are -- not get the vaccine or leave the country to get it done. So utterly frustrating and stressful.

But I do think it's cute the site automatically xxx-ed out my mild word, a synonym for pee!