We skipped Tetanus along with everything else. It was the last one to be crossed off my list.
I wish I could remember what tipped the scale for me to just decide not to worry about it.

Just to clear this up, Tetanus has NOTHING to do with metal or rust.
Tetanus comes from animals/manure, especially horses. The rusty nail association is based on the fact that horses step in their own manure. When they lose a nail/shoe, the nails have been mired in the stuff and provide the sharp point to scrape or puncture the skin.

the only vaccine my 13 year old daughter has EVER had is plain tetanus...and she just got the shot last Tuesday.I took her to a naturopathic doctor who is totally supportive of our non-vaccine home health care thus far, she too said tetanus shot was probably a good idea. I was on the fence.about it,

my daughter left this morning for a school-sponsored trip doing rainforest Outward Bound in Costa RIca (lucky!) and tetanusis the only one required for entry into the country.I could PROBABLY have got a philosophical exemption,but like I say,I'm not a fanatic or a shrieker ineither direction on this.

I still am.not overly worriedabouttetanus and could probably clean and treat a wound to prevent infection without antibiotics or shots...have done so,in fact but,unfortunately for morethan the naturopathic aspect of it,I'm not on this trip to the rainforest, and my daughter IS.(Ironically,I lived in Costa RIca 30 years ago as a naturopathy-based village health worker.the doctor overseeing us,or shoudl i say collecting money from us for being there and sitting through his classes and helping people with primary care needs, , was a bit of a nut, but it was a good experience anyway.)...but not overly panicked about one single vaccine,

tetanus and diphtheria vaccines are both made from bacterial toxoids, not living or while organisms that can cause disease.(a toxoid a product of bacterial metabolism,in this case of the Clostridium tetani bacterium, that is what produces disease in the host. )

anyway..with a younger child, to choose an "alternate"vaccination program,such as single-toxoid tetanus vaccine,you will usually just have t deal with the resistance of a pediatrician who goes with the current recommendations because she or he is unfamiliar with alternatives.

you might want to look for a physician who is a licensed naturopath and shares a practice with a supportive MD, (that's who we went to)or find an MD who is good at working with families who select alternative courses of care based on their own research and good sense.

good luck!


(gawd, i wish *I* was headed back to Costa Rica this week...and I prooabbly wouldn'tt update my tetanus booster unless I WAS injured.or they made me do it to get into the country)


chances are if you are younger than 60,you got inoculated against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, and polio, and smallpox too if you are over 35. of these,smallpox has been declared eradicated and wild-type polio nearly so inthe developed world. they stopped routine smallpox vaccines by the early 70s,

I;ve researched pertussis a lot(had a mild adult case myself a year ago,probably immune for life now at age 51.) the vaccine wasneverMEANT to last a lifetime, and it doesn't. mpreon tha tlater...

there is a Diphtheria-tetanus shot as well as a tetanus-only shot. they generally give the tetanus "booster" if you've been injured in a way where you might be exposed to the anaerobic bacterium that causes tetanus (they offered me one at .he ER when I cut the side of my head by runningintothe corner of a fire extinguisher box atthelaundromat..lameaccident,Iknow. tI think that's the same one they gave my daughter.