Injecting vaccinations into the thigh may be safer for toddlers than the arm, says a new study from researchers at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. For the study the researchers examined health records from 1.4 million young children between the ages of 12 months and 35 months.
They found that those kids who received diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccines through their leg were half as likely to return to doctors for infections at the injection site.
"These local reactions are the most common side effect of vaccinations, but we have known relatively little about how to prevent them," say study leader Dr. Lisa Jackson. "Our findings support current recommendations to give intramuscular vaccinations in the thigh for children younger than 3 years."
Their data appeared online this week in Pediatrics.
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