Vaccine Boosters are NOT New

Lawrence Robinson
3 min readMar 30, 2022

My Medium article today will debunk the theory that no other boosters have been used before to this extent or that boosters have never been done for vaccination. As anti-vaxxers/anti-Covid conspiracy theorists would like you to believe. This will be a short article because we only need a couple of examples to use to debunk these silly statements. So without further ado, let’s get into the article.

Influenza Vaccine

➡️ Summary

The short version of this article: there are more than 2 shots for some vaccines to combat a whole plethora of viral pathogens to keep the human population protected, the theory said that a 3rd or 4th booster for Covid-19 isn’t needed and has never been done before, this is totally false.

➡️ Vaccine boosters

DTaP is a vaccine for American children which is normally needed in 5 doses [1] from ages 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15–18 months and 4–6 years [2]. DtaP in the UK is normally given to babies at these stages of life, 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. They should also get a Hib/MenC booster between 12 and 13 months of age. [3]

TDaP is a 5-in-1 vaccine that combats these viruses — diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), polio and Hib disease (Haemophilus influenzae type b), for UK children these vaccines are given at child ages of 2, 3 and 4 months [4].

Polio vaccines are given to American children at the following ages stages — 2 months old, 4 months old, 6 through 18 months old, and 4 through 6 years old. Which equates to 4 shots. [5] Within the UK as part of the 6-in-1 vaccine, boosters need to be taken at these age stages — 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age [6]. Then another booster with the teenage 3-in-1 vaccine which covers tetanus, diphtheria and polio, at age 14. [6]

Then we come to the famous seasonal Influenza vaccine, which should be administered every year [7]. The flu vaccine is offered for free on the NHS for anyone who has long-term health issues, which is very positive.

MMR vaccines within the UK also come in 2 doses, one taken at 12–13 months and the second (last) dose taken at 3 years and 4 months, before your lovely child goes to primary school [8]. This should also be taken at the same time as the pre-school booster (yes 4-in-1 vaccine also tackles polio).

References: [1] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/dtap.html
[2] https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/dtap-vaccine.html
[3] https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/immunisation/vaccines/the-6-in-1-vaccine#:~:text=The%20DTaP%2FIPV%2FHib%2FHepB%20vaccine's%20usually%20given%20to,years%204%20months%20of%20age
[4] https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/5-1-dtapipvhib-vaccine#:~:text=This%20is%20often%20called%20'pentavalent,(Haemophilus%20influenzae%20type%20b).
[5] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/public/index.html#:~:text=CDC%20recommends%20that%20children%20get%20four%20doses%20of%20polio%20vaccine,4%20through%206%20years%20old.
[6] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/3-in-1-teenage-booster/
[7] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/
[8] https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/mmr-vaccine
[9] https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/pre-school-booster

➡️ Conclusion

I think it’s safe to say this theory of booster shots not being given in a small amount of time before or any booster shots for that matter can be safely debunked and put to sleep once and all.

💥 Thanks for reading, Lawrence. Please consider a small contribution, in the form of a beer as all articles are created in my small amount of spare time: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LawrenceRob

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Lawrence Robinson

Passionate about evidence-based scientific information and tackling falsehoods that thrive on social media.