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The tetanus vaccine can cause common side effects such as fever and pain at the injection site, with more serious side effects being rare. While these side effects can be uncomfortable, they are much less severe than the illnesses the vaccine prevents, such as diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus. Parents can give their children acetaminophen to relieve side effects, and medical attention is only needed if more serious side effects occur.
Common side effects of the tetanus vaccine include fever and redness, swelling, or pain at the injection site. These side effects are due to the DPT vaccine, a vaccine usually given in childhood to prevent diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus. The chances of side effects increase with each of the five doses given between the ages of 2 months and 15 years. During the latter doses, side effects such as nervousness, tiredness and vomiting may occur. While rarer side effects include coma and brain damage, the greatest risk is allowing a child to get diphtheria, whooping cough, or tetanus.
For children receiving the DPT vaccine, parents should expect their child to develop fever, redness and/or pain at the injection site. Because these tetanus vaccine side effects are very common, no further medical treatment is needed. Side effects resolve within hours to a day. Parents can give their children acetaminophen to relieve side effects. Only during the fourth and fifth injections, when the child is between the ages of 12 and 15, do more serious side effects occur.
Side effects of the tetanus vaccine that occur after the fourth and fifth injections include fussiness, tiredness/poor appetite, and about 1 in 50 children are vomiting. These symptoms take one to three days to resolve on their own. As with the other mild symptoms, no medical attention is needed. Any number of palliative relief measures can mitigate these side effects until they resolve on their own.
Although uncommon, seizures, high fever, and coma are potential side effects of the tetanus vaccine. The chances of these side effects are very small, somewhere between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 16,000. However, parents should know that these side effects occur one to three days after the injection. If symptoms occur, immediate medical attention is needed to prevent long-term damage.
Even the worst side effects of the tetanus vaccine are not comparable to the suffering inflicted on children by diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus. Diphtheria can cause severe nerve damage and kill up to 50% of untreated cases. Generalized tetanus takes four months for a child to fully recover. Whooping cough is highly contagious and can infect parents, making them unable to care for their children.
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