More on the vaccine front. The Department of Health is applying more pressure in its campaign to have immunization start and finish earlier, so that babies are to first get jabbed at two months and finish before they are six months old.
A recent issue of the British Medical Journal predicted that in the next few years, a booster dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine will be given in the second decade of life. This would follow on the heels of the Americans, who recently introduced a booster shot at age 11 in an attempt to counter the epidemics of measles it has been suffering lately.
Also expected is the introduction of the Haemophilus influenzae (Hib) vaccine, probably at the same time and in combination with the diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus shots.