Usual symptoms

• Diphtheria infection can cause a membrane (a skin or film) to grow in a person’s throat, making it difficult for them to breathe.
• It can also cause skin sores that don’t heal, get deeper over time (ulcers), and leave a scar.

Less common symptoms

• People with diphtheria can be paralysed if the disease affects their nerves.
• Diphtheria can cause heart disease and heart failure.
• Up to 16 per cent of people who get diphtheria infection die.

In Australia, children receive a ‘combined’ vaccine (also called ‘hexavalent’), which strengthens immunity to diphtheria, as well as tetanus, pertussis, Hib , polio and hepatitis B.

It is recommended that children get a vaccine that protects against diphtheria at two months, four months, six months, 18 months and four years.

It is also recommended that adolescents are vaccinated at the beginning of high school, around 12-13 years of age (Year 7 or equivalent).

It is important that children get all their vaccinations on time to ensure they have the best possible protection against infectious diseases.

The vaccine works by ‘training’ your child’s immune system to recognise and get rid of the diphtheria bacteria and their toxins. The vaccine contains antigens, which are tiny, harmless fragments of diphtheria toxin. 

When your child’s immune system detects the antigens in the vaccine, it produces proteins called antibodies. These antibodies are like soldiers that recognise and remember the diphtheria toxin. If your child is ever exposed to the real diphtheria bacteria and their toxins, their immune system will recognise them quickly and stop them using the antibodies it created after vaccination.²

The diphtheria vaccine does not contain any blood products and is not a ‘live’ vaccine. The antigens are made synthetically and are not the real diphtheria bacteria. They cannot replicate themselves or cause disease. 

Most children (94–100 per cent) who have their first three doses of the diphtheria vaccine have developed enough infection fighting proteins (antibodies) to protect them against diphtheria.³ 

In Australia, most of us are never exposed to diphtheria. This means your child may lose their infection-fighting proteins (antibodies) over time.⁴ To keep their protection against diphtheria up to date, your child is recommended to have another dose of diphtheria vaccine (a ‘booster’) when they are a teenager. They will also need further boosters as adults.³

No, there is no risk that your child will catch diphtheria because the vaccine does not contain the live bacteria that causes the disease.

• Up to 33 per cent of children who have vaccines that protect against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Hib, or polio experience redness at the injection site that lasts up to a few days.
• Up to 20 per cent of children who have vaccines that protect against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Hib, or polio develop a mild fever that lasts one or two days.  
• Around 10 to 13 per cent of people who have vaccines that protect against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Hib, polio, or hepatitis B experience mild swelling or pain at the injection site that lasts one or two days. 
• Around 5 to 10 per cent of babies who have vaccines that protect against polio experience decreased appetite.
• Around 2 per cent of people who get booster doses of a vaccine that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) get a sore red, swollen arm. The swelling starts in the first two days after vaccination. It lasts for one to seven days and then gets better. 
• Around 1 per cent of children who have a vaccine that protects against polio get a hard lump at the injection site that lasts a few days or weeks. 

• Babies who get a fever (for any reason) sometimes experience a febrile convulsion (a fit) that lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. Febrile convulsions don’t have long-term effects on a child’s health and development. 
• Some people who get vaccines that protect against hepatitis B experience nausea or aches in their muscles or joints in the days afterwards.
• Around 0.0032 per cent of children aged 12 months or under who get a vaccine that protects against pertussis (whooping cough) experience hypotonic-hyporesponsive episodes (HHE). These children get very pale, go limp, and don’t respond to their surroundings. Their lips and fingernails can also turn blue. Most reactions last less than 30 minutes and can occur anytime from vaccination up to around 48 hours after vaccination.⁵ HHEs don’t have any long-term effects on children’s health.
• Around 0.0001 per cent of people have an allergic reaction following vaccination that affects their whole body, called anaphylaxis. This reaction usually happens within 15 minutes of getting the vaccination and can be treated with an injection of adrenalin. People who have this reaction usually recover quickly and don’t experience any long-term effects.

Diphtheria rates began to decline after the introduction of the first diphtheria vaccine in 1932, and declined further after an advanced vaccine was released in 1953.^6,7