A 5-year-old is in the office for vaccines and is due for MMR, polio, varicella, and DTaP. Is there a specific order I should be giving these vaccines?

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) does not address this issue. There is no recommended order in which the vaccines should be given. A best practice strategy to decrease injection or procedural pain is to administer the vaccine that causes the most pain (stinging, for example) last. For more information on vaccine administration, please see the “Vaccine Administration” chapter of Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases at www.cdc.gov/pinkbook/hcp/table-of-contents/.