components of Vaccines

Vaccines are made with a variety of ingredients including antigens, stabilizers, adjuvants, and preservatives; they may also contain residual by-products from the production process.  Knowing precisely what is in each vaccine can be helpful when investigating adverse events following vaccination and for choosing alternative products for persons who have allergies or have had an adverse event known or suspected to be related to a vaccine component.  The following tables were prepared using information from the 2005-08 Physician's Desk Reference (PDR), the manufacturer’s package inserts and ImmunoFacts by JD Grabenstein. Since package inserts can change and there are sometimes small modifications in the components, the most recent package inserts (links available in the tables) should be reviewed to verify specific information.  The tables were prepared in July and August 2005 and have been updated. Below are links to tables organized by Excipients, Allergens, and Vaccine Type. Excipients Table       Allergens Table       Components Tables click on the vaccine type below to link to the table of vaccine-specific components Vaccine Type Brand Name DT DT DTaP Tripedia, Infanrix, DAPTACEL DTaP and Hib TriHIBit DTaP, Hepatitis B and IPV Pediarix Hepatitis A Havrix, Vaqta Hepatitis B Engerix-B, Recombivax HB Hepatitis A and B Twinrix Hib HibTITER, PedvaxHIB, ActHIB, OmniHIB Hib and Hepatitis B Comvax HPV Gardasil Influenza Fluarix, FluLaval, Flumist, Fluvirin, Fluzone Influenza A (H1N1) by CSL, Novartis, sanofi pasteur and MedImmune (nasal) Japanese Encephalitis JE-VAX Meningococcal Menactra, MENOMUNE-A/C/Y/W-135 MMR MMRII, Attenuvax, Mumpsvax, Meruvax II MMRV ProQuad Pneumococcal Prevnar, Pneumovax 23 Polio IPOL, Orimune Rabies Imovax Rabies, RabAvert Rotavirus Rotarix, RotaTeq Smallpox Dryvax Td Td Typhoid Typhim Vi Tdap ADACEL, Boostrix Varicella (Chickenpox) Varivax

This page was last updated on October 06, 2009 © 2009 Institute for Vaccine Safety