Vaccinating infants with a wide long needle achieved comparable immune response and reduced local reactions compared with a narrow short needle
Q Is vaccination of infants with a wide long needle equivalent or superior to a narrow short needle for immune response and local reactions?
METHODS
Design:
randomised controlled non-inferiority trial.
Allocation:
concealed.
Blinding:
blinded (data entry clerks and laboratory staff).
Follow up period:
3 to 4.5 months.
Setting:
18 general practices in 2 primary care trusts in the UK.
Participants:
696 healthy infants due to receive their first immunisation (mean age 62 d, mean weight 5300 g, 52% boys). Exclusion criteria were <37 weeks gestation, birth weight <2500 g, or treatments or conditions that could bias evaluation of immune response.
Intervention:
vaccination with a 23 gauge, 25 mm needle (wide long needle, n = 240), a 25 gauge, 16 mm needle (narrow short needle, n = 230), or a 25 gauge, 25 mm needle (narrow long needle, n = 226). At 2, 3, and 4 months of age, infants received a combined diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b …
