Summary
Combination vaccines are increasing in variety of combinations, numbers of antigens, and additional manufacturers. Combination vaccines must be proven to be noninferior to each of their individual components. Combination vaccines may improve vaccination rates but lower reimbursement and rising costs are hampering providers.
Analysis
Combination vaccines continue to grow in types of vaccine combinations, number of antigens, and additional manufacturers. However, combining vaccines is not simply a matter of mixing separate vaccines together as one may interfere with the action of another. Consequently, the FDA requires that each combination show that the effectiveness of each component it contains is equivalent to each vaccine individually i.e. noninferiority. Combination vaccines do provide the opportunity to improve immunization rates because more vaccine antigens can be given at at single visit and the child spared less shots. However, reimbursement for vaccines is a major issue for providers because the reimbursement for giving a combination vaccine is typically less then giving individual vaccines. The cost of stocking a multitude of combination vaccines is a also a major concern for providers.
