Adolescents and adults who have never had a tetanus-containing vaccine are recommended to receive a primary course and booster doses
Adolescents and adults who have never had a tetanus-containing vaccine are recommended to receive:
- 3 doses of dT vaccine with at least 4 weeks between doses
- booster doses at 10 years and 20 years after the primary course
These people should receive 1 of the 3 primary doses (preferably the 1st) as dTpa, to protect against pertussis. If dT vaccine is not available, they can receive dTpa vaccine for all primary doses.3
Catch-up vaccination has details on managing people aged ≥10 years who have never received dT vaccine and need catch-up doses.
Check the recommended intervals between doses when giving dTpa or dT in a catch-up schedule. See Table. Catch-up schedule for people ≥10 years of age (for vaccines recommended on a population level) in Catch-up vaccination.
Page history
Definitions
- dT
- diphtheria-tetanus vaccine for use in adults
- dTpa
- diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, reduced antigen content formulation
Printed content may be out of date. For up to date information, always refer to the digital version: https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/recommendations/adolescents-and-adults-who-have-never-had-a-tetanus-containing-vaccine-are.