Painless Vaccines:-

Painless vaccines are one of the recent inventions in the field of immunology. Until now, painless vaccines have only been developed for whooping cough (pertussis) and have been marketed successfully in India as a combination vaccine by the name DaPT (Diphtheria, Acellular pertussis, Tetanus).
They are acellular vaccines that contain fewer number of antigens (constituents of a vaccine that stimulate an immune response in the body) than present in a whole-shot vaccine.
The route of administration of a painless vaccine is needle-based and it is given using an injection itself.
Why are they called painless?
Due to the absence of these few antigens, painless vaccines produce little or no side effects like fever or local pain and swelling at the injection site. As a result, they lower the pain that your infant might experience otherwise.
Despite this advantage, some facts that may put you into reconsidering the use of painless vaccines for your little one are:
1. Painless vaccines are costlier than painful ones; almost double their price.
2. A painless vaccine preparation lacks a few immunity-stimulating components because of which it is less immunogenic in nature.
3. The dosage of painless vaccines that has to be given to your little one is less than the amount of painful vaccines injected. This means that in order to produce the same effect, your child will require to be injected with more shots of a painless vaccine as compared to the painful one.
4. They have a faster period of waning, which means that their effect doesn't stay for very long in the body whereas in the case of painful vaccines, antibody production is more and hence, protection is better and superior.
Considering the above reasons, painless vaccines are given only if the baby has a history of a severe adverse response (like convulsions or incessant crying) to a previous dose of a painful vaccine or suffers from any kind of neurological problem. Many times, painless vaccines are also given as boosters when the child is over two years of age.
However, your paediatrician will always go ahead with giving you the option to use any of the two vaccines for your little one and it is completely your decision on which one you wish to opt for.....