What Vaccines Do Babies Get At 18 Months

Is The Vaccine Safer Than Getting The Real Disease

Yes. Your child’s natural immune system has no problem handling the weak or dead germs in a vaccine. Your child may have a mild fever or a sore arm after vaccination but these side effects only last a few days and should not disrupt daily activities.

However, if an unvaccinated child catches the real disease, the result can be serious, or even fatal. This is because active germs multiply quickly, and your child’s immune system is not prepared to defend itself.

If Your Child Is Missing A Vaccine

Life can get busy and you may not be able to make every vaccination appointment for your child. Your child may also have missed vaccines from your health care provider or their school because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important to call your health care provider or local public health authority if your child missed receiving any vaccines. They can help your child get back on track with the recommended vaccination schedule. This will help to protect your child from many vaccine-preventable diseases.

How Are Vaccines Approved

Vaccines must go through years of research, followed by testing and retesting before they can be used in Canada. Several systems are in place to monitor the creation, the use, and the safety of vaccines. Each vaccine MUST be proven to be safe and to work before it can be given. Vaccine reactions are reported by healthcare providers to local public health authorities to make sure unusual or unexpected reactions can be dealt with quickly.

Watch our vaccine safety video @ Canada.ca/vaccines

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Immunizations Given At The 18

Your toddler may get these shots at the 18-month checkup, or at a separate visit:

• The fourth dose of the DTaP vaccine

• The third dose of the polio vaccine

• The fourth dose of Hib

• The fourth dose of pneumococcus

• The second hepatitis A vaccine .

Your toddler may also be given other immunizations if any were missed over the past few months. Your healthcare provider may also recommend a flu shot if your toddler hasnât gotten one in the past year.

How Can Parents Keep Children Safe Before They Get The Covid

Since it may still be a while before your littlest ones can get vaccinated, its important to continue following the same safety measures youve used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, says Kyle Monk, M.D., a pediatrician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California and member of the What to Expect Medical Review Board.

This includes wearing masks, practicing social distancing and washing hands frequently. “You still need to hold off on unmasked playdates or sleepovers until children are vaccinated,” adds Dr. Monk.

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Children In Licensed Daycare Centres

If you want your child to attend daycare, and decide not to vaccinate them due to medical, religious or philosophical reasons, you will need to give your daycare a valid written exemption. If the disease appears in your childs daycare centre, your child may have to stay out of daycare until the disease is no longer present.

Preparing Children For Vaccination

You can prepare your child for vaccination, especially if they are of an age to understand.

There are several ways to reduce the pain and anxiety of vaccination. See the Reducing the Pain and Anxiety of Vaccination in Children page and discuss them with the person administering the vaccines during your appointment.

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Can Older Kids Get A Covid Booster

Children as young as 12 can now get a booster dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, given at least five months after their primary vaccination series.

Most kids younger than 12 can’t get a booster, although the CDC recommends a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5 and up who are immunocompromised. They’re eligible for a third shot 28 days after their second dose.

Malaria Vaccination In Children

On October 6, 2021, the World Health Organization recommended widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high Plasmodium falciparum malaria Malaria Malaria is infection of red blood cells with one of five species of Plasmodium, a protozoan. Malaria causes fever, chills, sweating, a general feeling of illness , and sometimes diarrhea… read more transmission.

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Your Child’s Vaccination Schedule

Vaccination schedules are carefully studied and designed to give the best possible protection for children against serious diseases.

Canadians should consult with their health care provider or public health authority to determine when they should visit, and learn about the measures that have been put in place to safely deliver immunization services during COVID-19.

Vaccination schedules can vary slightly, depending on the province or territory you live in. This means that some provinces or territories will vaccinate at a different age.

Typically, your child will be vaccinated:

• between birth to 2 months
• at 4 months
• between 12 months and 18 months
• between 4 to 6 years of age

For some of the vaccines, your child will require more than 1 dose at different times. This is needed because for some vaccines, the first dose does not provide as much immunity as possible.

More than 1 dose is needed to build more complete immunity. The DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type B, is an example.

In other cases, the initial series of shots that children receive as part of their infant immunizations helps them build immunity. After a while, however, that immunity begins to wear off.

At this point, a “booster” dose is needed to bring immunity levels back up. The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, is a good example.

Tetanus Diphtheria And Pertussis Vaccine

Tdap is a three-in-one vaccine. It protects people against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

Immunization against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis is required by law for all children attending school in Ontario, unless exempted.

What is tetanus?

Tetanus or lockjaw is a serious disease that can happen if dirt with the tetanus germ gets into a cut in the skin. Tetanus germs are found everywhere, usually in soil, dust and manure. It does not spread from person to person. Tetanus causes cramping of the muscles in the neck, arms, leg and stomach, and painful convulsions which can be severe enough to break bones. Even with early treatment, tetanus kills two out of every 10 people who get it.

What is diphtheria?

Diphtheria is a serious disease of the nose, throat and skin. It causes sore throat, fever and chills. It can be complicated by breathing problems, heart failure and nerve damage. Diphtheria kills about one out of every 10 people who get the disease. It is most often passed to others through coughing and sneezing.

What is pertussis?

For more information talk to your health care provider, contact your local Public Health Unit or visit ontario.ca/vaccines.

Some immunizations are required for children to attend school in Ontario. Please see the school immunization checklist for more information.

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What Is A Vaccination Schedule

A vaccination schedule is a plan with recommendations for which vaccines your children should get and when they should get them. Vaccines are one of the most important ways to prevent children from getting some dangerous diseases. By exposing you to a germ in a controlled way, vaccines teach your body to recognize and fight it.

Government vaccine recommendations are just that — recommendations. You arent forced to get them. But state laws require your kids to have certain vaccines before they can go to daycare, school, or college, with some exceptions. Vaccines protect not just your child, but everyone they come in contact with. The more people who get vaccinated, the harder it is for a disease to spread.

Before theyre approved for use and added to the schedule, vaccines go through years of testing to make sure they work and that theyre safe. The government keeps track of any reports of side effects to make sure no problems come up.

Safety Of Multiple Injections

Scientific studies have shown that children risk nothing in receiving several vaccines in a single immunization session. This practice is safe and applied worldwide.

Vaccines are just a small fraction of all substances to which a child is exposed daily. Every day, their immune system is exposed to thousands of microbes. The immune systems ability to react is 1000 times greater than what is necessary to respond to vaccines. There is therefore no limit to the number of vaccines a child can receive at the same time.

Moreover, administering several vaccines at the same time does not increase the frequency, intensity or severity of symptoms. Symptoms are the same as when the vaccines are administered on different visits.

Also, treatment of the childs discomfort is the same whether theyve received one or several vaccines.

When possible, children preferably receive a combined vaccine, which is a single-injection vaccine that fights several diseases. For example, the DTaP/IPV/Hib Vaccine protects your child against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio and Hæmophilus influenzae type B infections. Giving a combined vaccine to protect against these diseases both decreases the number of injections and the childs discomfort.

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What If We Missed A Shot

Life with young children can be very busy. You may not be able to make every vaccination appointment for your child. But it is important to get back on schedule.

You should book an appointment with your healthcare provider as soon as possible. They can help you figure out what vaccines your child has already had and which ones are needed.

When To Delay Or Avoid Hepb Immunization

Doctors delay giving the vaccine to babies who weigh less than 4 pounds, 7 ounces at birth whose mothers do not have the virus in their blood. The baby will get the first dose at 1 month of age or when the baby is discharged from the hospital.

The vaccine is not recommended if your child:

• is currently sick, although simple colds or other minor illnesses should not prevent immunization
• had a serious allergic reaction after an earlier dose of the vaccine or is allergic to baker’s yeast

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Immunising Your Child Is Important

There are immunisation requirements that your child needs to meet in order to go to childcare, kindergarten and primary school in Victoria. By law, your childs immunisations must be up to date before they start childcare and kindergarten.

The Australian Immunisation Register will send you your child’s Immunisation History Statement on request or you can download it from your myGov account.

In Victoria, parents of children attending a childcare or kindergarten service are required to provide an updated Immunisation History Statement to the service if the child has a new vaccine. This ensures that the service always has current information about the childs immunisation status.

Parents who immunise their children at the appropriate age may be eligible for Australian Government family assistance payments. For more information, visit the Australian Government Services Australia website or visit a Centrelink.

Screening Tests At The 18

If your toddler has certain risk factors or is showing signs of a problem, your healthcare provider may recommend screening tests for things like

• anemia

• autism

• developmental delays.

Your provider will talk you through which screening tests may be recommended and why, as well as what the next steps may be based on the results.

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Immunisation Schedule For Victorian Babies And Young Children

The Victorian immunisation schedule outlines the vaccines that are routinely provided free of charge to all Victorian children under the National Immunisation Program and the Victorian funded program. It also outlines the age at which each vaccination should be given. New vaccines against serious infections continue to be developed and the schedule might be updated in the future.

Additional vaccines are given to children with certain medical risk conditions that put them at increased risk of complications from vaccine preventable diseases, such as:

• babies that are born prematurely or low birth weight
• children with chronic medical risk conditions. Talk with your doctor to see if your child should get extra vaccines.

Children Age 6 And Over

If a child age 6 or over has a headache, generalized muscle pain, fatigue, or a fever within 48 hours of vaccination and has not had contact with a case of COVID-19 in the past 14 days, they may continue with normal activities if their condition allows. If symptoms worsen or do not improve 48 hours after vaccination or if other symptoms develop, refer to the COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool .

To learn more about COVID-19, see Coronavirus disease in Québec.

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What About Pfizer’s Child Vaccine Can My Kid Be Vaccinated Now

Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years comes in two doses that are one-tenth the volume of the vaccine for people age 12 and up, a slightly smaller dose than Moderna’s prospective vaccine for the age group. A third 3-microgram dose is being researched right now and is expected to complete the series.

The currently authorized and available COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 to 11 is one-third the dose given to everyone 12 and up, and it’s delivered in two doses. Pfizer’s vaccine for kids can also be stored for up to 10 weeks in a fridge, making it easier to administer, and the cap on the vial is orange instead of purple and gray to avoid mix-ups.

And if it helps put your kids at ease, you can let them know the needle used to administer the child’s dose of vaccine is also smaller.

For more information about Pfizer’s vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, check out this FDA fact sheet.

Why Weren’t Children Included In The First Covid

Childrens immune systems are very different from those of adults, and their immune responses can vary according to their age, explains Dr. OLeary.

While a teenager may respond to a vaccine similarly as an adult, an elementary school-age child, a toddler or an infant could have a very different reaction. Thats why its so important to always hold clinical trials in kids separately.

The trials in children go through two stages. The first stage looks at different dose levels specifically doses that are one-quarter, one-half or equal to the doses given to adults, explains Rajeev Fernando, M.D., an infectious disease expert in Southampton, New York, and member of the What to Expect Medical Review Board. As a next step, those doses are then tested against placebo injections.

About 24 percent of the U.S. population around 74 million people is under 18, and experts say getting kids vaccinated is key to controlling the pandemic.

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Why We Need Vaccines

Vaccines have successfully lowered the rates of disease in countries with strong vaccination programs.

Some of the diseases that vaccines prevent have no treatment or cure. These diseases can cause:

• severe illness
• disability
• death

Even with improved living conditions and modern hygiene, vaccines are still very important to prevent infections that could make your child very sick.

Some diseases are now rarely seen in Canada because of long-term high rates of vaccination in the population, including:

• diphtheria

However, these diseases still exist in some countries, so people who live in them or travel to them may become infected. They can introduce and spread these diseases when they return to Canada. High rates of vaccination against these diseases help to prevent further spread and outbreaks.

The best way to protect your children’s health is to prevent these diseases in the first place by keeping their vaccinations up to date. Some examples include:

Measles

Measles is still a leading cause of death in children worldwide, with 89,780 cases in 2016. One person with measles can infect 12 to 18 people who haven’t had the vaccine.

Measles is a very contagious disease. You can catch it by walking into a room that an infected person sneezed in an hour before you entered.

How Vaccines Are Given

Most vaccines are given by needle in the upper arm or thigh. Some vaccines, like the rotavirus vaccine, are given by mouth. There’s also a flu vaccine for children that’s sprayed into the nose.

Some vaccines are given separately. Others, like the MMR vaccine, protect against 3 diseases in one vaccine.

Your child’s immune system can learn from more than 1 vaccine at a time. For instance, babies can respond to 10,000 different antigens at any one time.

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Your Toddler’s Vaccination And Immunisation Schedule

One of the best ways to protect your child against diseases like measles, rubella, tetanus and meningitis is through immunisations.

Vaccinations are offered free of charge in the UK â just book your appointments with your GP. Remember, as well as protecting your own child, you’re also protecting others by preventing the spread of disease.

Why Should I Vaccinate My Child At Such A Young Age

The vaccination schedule is designed to protect your child before they are exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases. Children are vaccinated early in life because they are vulnerable to diseases and the consequences can be very serious. But if vaccinated on time, your child has the most protection as early as possible.

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