Infants who get vaccinated with a long needle may have fewer reactions than those immunised with shorter needles, finds a new study. Primary care practitioners administer infant immunisations at two, three and four months of age, Forbes reported.
Despite recommendations for use of a wide-long (23 gauge, 25mm) needle, they commonly use narrow (25 gauge, 16 mm) ones.
Researchers from Oxford compared three needle sizes varying in length and diameter.
They randomly immunised 696 infants with either a wide-long (23G, 25mm) a narrow-short (25G, 16mm) or a narrow-long (25G, 25mm) needle at the age of two, three and four months and recorded local and general reactions for three days.
Local reactions such as redness, swelling, and tenderness decreased significantly with the wider-longer needles over the narrower-shorter ones.
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