Manufacture of vaccines to end in Finland after 100 years

The vaccine laboratory of Finland's National Public Health Institute has announced that it will stop manufacturing vaccines for tetanus, whooping cough, and diphtheria at the end of this year. The decision means an end to more than 100 years of vaccine production in Finland. The reason for the move is the introduction of a new type of whooping cough vaccine which is different from the kind that is produced in Finland. This new import indirectly renders the manufacture of the other vaccines economically unviable. The new imported vaccine makes it easier to combine different vaccines in one shot. The familiar DPT vaccine, which combines the vaccines for tetanus, whooping cough, and diphtheria will be replaced by a vaccine cocktail which combines five vaccines in a single dose. This means that babies will have to endure fewer jabs.