If two different live virus vaccines are inadvertently given less than 4 weeks apart, what should be done?

Two or more injectable or nasally administered live vaccines not administered on the same day should be separated by at least 4 weeks to minimize the potential risk for interference. If two such vaccines are separated by less than 4 weeks, the second vaccine administered should not be counted and the dose should be repeated at least 4 weeks later. Alternatively, one can perform serologic testing to check for immunity, but this option may be more costly, may not be practical if multiple antigens are involved (such as measles, mumps and rubella), and may provide results that are difficult to interpret.

In cases where the vaccine doses given less than 28 days apart are two doses of the same live vaccine in a series (e.g., 2 doses of MMR vaccine), not different vaccines, you do not need to repeat the second dose if it was inadvertently administered within the 4-day “grace period” before day 28. If given more than 4 days earlier than day 28, the second dose should be repeated after the recommended minimum interval from the invalid dose.

The oral vaccines Ty21a typhoid, cholera and rotavirus vaccines can be administered on the same day with or at any interval before or after other live vaccines (injectable or intranasal). However, ACIP recommends that oral cholera vaccine should be administered before Ty21a vaccine, and at least 8 hours should separate the oral cholera vaccine and the first dose of Ty21a in order to minimize the risk that the oral cholera vaccine buffer might interfere with the enteric coating of the oral Ty21a vaccine.