What Happens if You Skip a Tetanus Shot?

Since tetanus spores are essentially everywhere, a tetanus shot is important if you have a wound and are not up to date on your vaccines. Don’t skip it!

Unbelievably, some parents still decide to skip this important shot for their kids though.

What Happens if You Skip a Tetanus Shot?

What could happen if your child doesn’t get a tetanus shot?

You only have to look at what has happened since the pre-vaccine era to know that skipping a tetanus shot is not a good idea.

“From 1995 through 1997, a total of 124 cases of tetanus were reported from 33 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for an average annual incidence of 0.15 cases per 1,000,000 population… Only 13% of patients reported having received a primary series of TT before disease onset. Previous vaccination status was directly related to severity of disease, with the case-fatality ratio ranging from 6% for patients who had received one to two doses to 15% for patients who were unvaccinated. No deaths occurred among the 16 patients who previously had received three or more doses. Tetanus occurred following an acute injury in 77% of patients, but only 41% sought medical care for their injury. “

Tetanus Surveillance — United States, 1995-1997

Tetanus is deadly.

Unvaccinated Kids Who Developed Tetanus

Sure, not every unvaccinated child who gets a wound develops tetanus.

And not every unvaccinated child who develops tetanus dies.

But why take the chance that your child will develop tetanus when there is a safe and effective vaccine that will prevent it.

These parents, very recently, took that chance and their kids suffered the consequences, weeks and months in a pediatric intensive care unit:

• an unvaccinated boy in Israel was hospitalized in the ICU after developing tetanus after a fall (2024)
• an unvaccinated 10-year-old in Minnesota without a history of visible wounds who ended up in the ICU and was hospitalized for a month before being sent to inpatient rehabilitation (2024)
• an unvaccinated boy in Oregon spent nearly two months in the ICU after cutting his forehead on his family farm (2019)
• an unvaccinated 10 year old in Italy fell and skinned her knee and ended up in the ICU (2018)
• an unvaccinated 10-year-old in Sardinia, Italy who cut his forehead after crashing his bike (2017)
• an unvaccinated 7-year-old in Australia who cut her foot while playing in the garden (2017)
• a 22-month-old in Australia (2017), their first case in a child since 2000.
• an unvaccinated child in Slovenia, their first case in 20 years (2016)
• an unvaccinated 6-year-old in Ontario who was in the ICU (2015)
• an unvaccinated 7-year-old in New Zealand who developed tetanus after getting cut on his foot (2012)

Their parents were wrong that their kids could skip their tetanus shot.

Just like you are wrong if you think that the tetanus spores or bacteria will wash away if the wound bleeds enough, that it is too late to get a tetanus shot with TBIG when your child gets hurt, or that your child can’t die or get seriously ill because of tetanus.

And you are especially wrong if you think that the risks of the tetanus vaccine are greater than the risks of having tetanus.

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and are obviously necessary.

More On When You Skip a Tetanus Shot

• Can You Treat Tetanus Without a Tetanus Shot?
• The Fourth of July As Tetanus Day
• Tetanus Deaths Before We Had Vaccines
• Obstetric Tetanus Is Still a Thing in the United States
• A 6-year-old in Florida With Rabies Has Died
• Parents Who Regret Not Vaccinating Their Kids
• Do Anti-Vaccine Parents Ever Change Their Minds?
• MMWR – Tetanus Surveillance — United States, 1995-1997
• MMWR – Notes from the Field: Tetanus in an Unvaccinated Child — Oregon, 2017
• An unvaccinated child contracted tetanus. It took two months and more than $800,000 to save him.
• MMWR – Tetanus in a Child with Improper Medical Exemption from Immunization — Florida
• Study – Mapping Pediatric Tetanus Cases in Central Pennsylvania and Analyzing Hospital Costs Associated with Treatment
• Clinical tetanus in an 11 year old boy.
• Tetanus – Unprotected People Reports
• Tetanus without apparent history of trauma
• ‘It was hideous’ – family’s tetanus agony
• Parents’ fear of vaccinations nearly killed their son
• Tetanus in an Unvaccinated Boy in NZ
• Tetanus in an unvaccinated teen
• Another Child Suffers From the Effects of Anti-Vaccine Propaganda…and Tetanus
• A case of tetanus in a child whose parents refused immunisation – Piedmont Region, Italy, 2006

Last Updated on March 6, 2025