It is recommended that all persons in high risk occupations receive pre-exposure vaccine and is given intradermally over a period of one month. Post-exposure vaccine should be started as soon as possible. It is an inactivated vaccine. These are serious diseases. Tetanus is caused by a germ that enters the body through a cut or wound.
Diphtheria spreads when germs pass from an infected person to the nose or throat of others.
The vaccine is inactivated and is given intramuscularly every ten years. If significant injury occurs vaccine will be given after five years, but never more often than five years. It occurs only in parts of Africa and South America. Vaccination is required to these areas and some adjoining areas. The vaccine is a live attenuated preparation given subcutaneously in a single dose.