What Vaccines Do Babies Need

Reasons Why Your Baby Should Not Be Immunised

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There are very few reasons why babies cannot be immunised.

Vaccines should not be given to babies who have had:

a confirmed anaphylactic reaction to a previous dose of the vaccine
a confirmed anaphylactic reaction to neomycin, streptomycin, or polymyxin B

In general, children who are immunosuppressed should not receive live vaccines. Children who are immunosuppressed include those:

whose immune system does not work properly because they are undergoing treatment for a serious condition such as a transplant or cancer
who have any condition which affects the immune system, such as severe primary immunodeficiency. Primary immunodeficiencies are very rare diseases that mean you are more likely to catch infections. They are usually caused by a faulty gene and are diagnosed soon after birth

If this applies to your child, you must tell your doctor, practice nurse or health visitor before the immunisation. They will need to get specialist advice on using live vaccines such as MMR, rotavirus vaccine and Bacillus CalmetteGuérin vaccine . There are no other reasons why vaccines should definitely not be given.

What Do You Suggest Expecting Parents Do If Family Members Are Hesitantor Outright Refuseto Get Vaccinated

I personally take a strong stanceif a family member is not willing to get vaccinated, I dont let them near my children until my kids have been adequately vaccinated and are a bit older .

The issue of vaccines should be brought up the same way that an expecting parent speaks to family members about other illnesses.

Just as you would ask them to wash their hands, check themselves for signs/symptoms of illness , anyone wanting to be close to a newborn should be willing to vaccinate themselves against infections that could seriously harm the baby.

Haemophilus Influenzae Type B And Pneumococcus

Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcus are bacteria that cause pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis in infants.

“In the past, before this vaccine, a hospital like Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital would treat two to four cases every week,” Soneji says. “With Hib, 50% of kids would have some morbidity or mortality so they would either die or be left with a disability ranging from mild hearing loss to developmental problems like cerebral palsy. All from this one bacterium causing meningitis.”

According to Soneji, physicians have also seen that when infants and kids are vaccinated against pneumococcus, their grandparents contract pneumonia less often.

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Whats The Difference Between Immunization And Vaccination

The words immunization and vaccination are often used interchangeably, but they have slightly different meanings. One term describes the specific action, and the other describes the process. According to the CDC, vaccination is the act of introducing a vaccine to give you immunity to a specific disease. The definition of immunization is the process by which vaccination protects you from a disease.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

The sight of your baby getting a shot may make you cry along with them. But getting your child vaccinated according to the childhood immunization schedule is the best way to protect them against many different infections and diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Protection and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend following a specific immunization schedule. However, talk to your childs pediatrician to find out what works best for your child.

Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 06/14/2022.

References

What Share Of The Population Has Received At Least One Dose Of Vaccine

The following chart shows the share of the total population that has received at least one dose of vaccine. This may not equal the share with a complete initial protocol if the vaccine requires two doses. If a person receives the first dose of a 2-dose vaccine, this metric goes up by 1. If they receive the second dose, the metric stays the same.

When Should Your Baby Be Immunised

It is important that your baby has their immunisations at the right age the first ones are given at 8 weeks old. They will be given further doses of these immunisations when they are 12 weeks old and 16 weeks old. Other immunisations are given at 1 year of age. Other immunisations are given later, see the table below for the immunisation schedule.

Recommended Childhood Vaccines For Ages 11 To 12 Years Old

The immunizations that are recommended at this age are for diseases that teens and young adults are at higher risk for plus one booster dose to strengthen immunity for three diseases. Your childs annual wellness visit or back-to-school checkup is the perfect time to get these vaccines.

An overview of immunizations for kids ages 11 to 12 years old

Tdap At this age, this immunization is whats commonly referred to as a booster shot because it boosts your childs tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis immunity. While related to the DTaP vaccine kids receive during childhood, this vaccine is formulated for adolescents and adults.
MenACWY The first of two meningococcal vaccine doses is recommended sometime between 11 and 12 years old. This vaccine protects against the most common types of meningococcal bacteria that affect adolescents.
HPV While in some cases doctors may recommend the human papillomavirus vaccine as early as age 9, this vaccine is routinely recommended to begin between 11 and 12 years old. If the initial vaccination is completed before age 14, just two doses are needed. The second dose should be completed 6 to 12 months after the first dose.

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Where Can My Child Get Vaccinated

Your child can get vaccinated at your local health unit. Health units are also called public health units, community health centres, or primary care homes in some areas of BC. Some family doctors and nurse practitioners also give vaccines. Pharmacists can vaccinate children who are five years of age and older. Services vary across BC.

Its best to book your childs appointment well in advance as clinics book up quickly. This helps to ensure your child is vaccinated on time.

How Will You Know When Your Babys Immunisations Are Due

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Your doctors surgery or clinic will send you an appointment for you to bring your baby for their immunisations. Most surgeries and health centres run special immunisation or baby clinics. If you cant get to the clinic, contact the surgery to make another appointment. All childhood immunisations are free.

What If You’re Allergic To A Vaccine

Serious reactions to vaccines are rare. However, your doctor may tell you to skip certain shots if you have an allergy to a substance they contain. Those who are allergic, for example, to baker’s yeast shouldn’t get the hepatitis B vaccine those with a severe egg allergy should avoid the flu shot and people with a severe allergy to gelatin or to the antibiotic neomycin shouldn’t get the measles, mumps, and rubella or varicella vaccine. If you’re skipping any shots, you should discuss alternate ways to prevent illness with your doctor.

Why Childhood Immunisation Is Important

Immunisation prepares the body to fight serious infections that might happen in the future. Young babies are very vulnerable to infections, so they need to be protected as early as possible.

Your child needs several different vaccines to be fully protected, so its important to complete their childhood immunisation programme.

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When To Contact The Pediatrician

If your baby has any of the following symptoms, contact their healthcare provider:

Temperature greater than 104 degrees
Fever lasting more than three days
Redness at the shot site larger than 1 inch or lasting longer than three days
High-pitched crying lasting over one hour
Nonstop crying more than three hours
Fussiness for more than three days
Severe vomiting or diarrhea

Vaccine Hesitancy For Parents

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The anti-vaccination movement has led some parents to worry about vaccinating their children. Efforts by people who dont believe in vaccinations have already resulted in unexpected outbreaks of previously eliminated diseases, such as measles.

Some parents are worried that vaccines for children haven’t gone through enough testing. Others are concerned about potential side effects or vaccine reactions.

However, vaccines are generally safe and effective. Your childs best protection against many common but preventable diseases is to follow the recommended immunization schedule.

What Changes Have Been Made To The Child Vaccine Schedule In 2022

For 2022, the pediatric immunization schedule has been updated to include dengue vaccination recommendations for children living in areas with high rates of dengue fever who have previously caught it. The schedule was also updated to include the latest recommendations for the MMR, varicella and hib vaccines. In addition, information about special situations was added for the hep B, HPV and MenACWY vaccines. If you have specific questions about 2022 schedule updates and how they relate to your kids vaccination schedule, talk with your childs doctor.

The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets three times a year to review the latest scientific research and make any necessary changes to the child vaccination schedule. The CDC officially sets the schedule based on ACIPs recommendations, and the schedule is also approved by organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Association of Family Physicians .

Current Acip Recommendations For Routine Poliovirus Vaccination In The United States

In the United States, all infants and children should receive 4 doses of IPV at ages 2 months, 4 months, 6 through 18 months, and at 4 through 6 years . The final dose in the series should be administered on or after the fourth birthday, regardless of the number of previous doses, and should be given 6 months after the previous dose. A fourth dose in the routine IPV series is not necessary if the third dose was administered at age 4 years and 6 months after the previous dose.

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Immunisation And Young Children

In the first months of life, a baby might have some protection from infectious diseases that their mother has had or been immunised against. This is known as passive immunity. It occurs when antibodies are transferred from mother to baby during pregnancy. The level of antibody protection for the baby can be low and wears off quickly. This puts them at risk of diseases that can be prevented with vaccination.

Most childhood immunisations are given as an injection in the arm or leg, except rotavirus vaccine, which is given by mouth. A vaccination dose may contain a vaccine against one specific disease, or several diseases. This is known as a combination injection, and it helps to reduce the number of injections your child needs.

What Vaccines Do You Need Before And During Pregnancy

KCHD reminds parents to get their children vaccinations before school starts

Protect yourself and your baby by getting the right vaccines before, during, and after pregnancy.

The vaccines you get before and during pregnancy play an important role in protecting your health, and they safeguard your baby’s health as well. A mother’s immunity is Baby’s first line of defense against certain serious illnesses.

“Pregnant women make lots of antibodies, and they transfer these antibodies to the infant during the last months of pregnancy,” says Dr. Sharon Nachman, M.D., the division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. “Vaccinations boost these antibodies in mothers and babies.”

Vaccines come in three forms: live virus, dead virus, and toxoids . Pregnant women shouldn’t get live virus vaccineslike the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine because there’s a slight chance these will harm the unborn baby. Vaccines made from dead viruses, such as the flu shot, and toxoid vaccines, such as the tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis shot, are safe.

Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about vaccinations during pregnancy and in the months before conception.

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Who Should Get Tdap Around A Newborn

The Tdap or DTaP vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis . The DTaP vaccine is given to children from 2 months to 7 years old, and the Tdap is a booster given to children 7 and older, teens, and adults. Tdap boosters are given every 10 years.

Recommended for: If you’ve never received a Tdap , get the vaccine. You also need a Tdap booster if you haven’t had one in the past 10 years.

Get the shot at least two weeks before having contact with an infant, to give your body a chance to develop antibodies to the disease after your vaccination.

Why: Parents and siblings are the most common sources of whooping cough infection in infants, so it’s important that everyone in the household have up-to-date vaccinations. Grandparents, caregivers, and friends can also transmit it.

While tetanus and diphtheria are rare in the United States today, whooping cough remains dangerous. It’s a very contagious respiratory illness, and infants are especially vulnerable because they can’t start their Tdap vaccinations until they’re 2 months old. Infants are at risk for developing serious complications from whooping cough, including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death.

What Vaccines Should You Get After Delivery

Now is the time to catch up on any vaccines you may have been unable to get during pregnancy or before becoming pregnant, such as the MMR and chickenpox vaccines. Moms who are breastfeeding can get vaccinated according to a normal adult vaccination schedule.

As mentioned above, if you’re due for a Td booster and didn’t get one during pregnancy, the latest recommendation is to get Tdap, which includes pertussis, also known as whooping cough. Women younger than 26 should also consider getting the HPV vaccine that helps protect against cervical cancer. The shot isn’t recommended during pregnancy because studies haven’t yet determined its safety for a developing baby.

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Modifying The Immunization Schedule For Inadequately Immunized Infants And Younger Children Before Internationaltravel

Several factors influence recommendations for the age at which a vaccine is administered, including age-specific risks of the disease and its complications, the ability of people of a given age to develop an adequate immune response to the vaccine, and potential interference with the immune response by passively transferred maternal antibodies.

The immunization schedules for infants and children in the United States do not provide specific guidelines for those traveling internationally before the age when specific vaccines are routinely recommended. Recommended age limitations are based on potential adverse events , lack of efficacy data or inadequate immune response , maternal antibody interference and immaturity of the immune system , or lack of safety data. In deciding when to travel with a young infant or child, parents should be advised that the earliest opportunity to receive routinely recommended immunizations in the United States is at age 6 weeks. In general, live-virus vaccines should be administered on the same day or spaced 28 daysapart.

Routine Infant and Childhood Vaccinations

Rotavirus vaccine is unique among the routine vaccines given to US infants because it has maximum ages for the first and last doses specific consideration should be given to the timing of an infants travel so that the infant will still be able to receive the vaccine series, if at all possible.

Travel-specific vaccine considerations include the following:

The Flu Shot: An Annual Immunization For Children Starting At 6 Months Old

Vitamin K shots necessary to prevent internal bleeding in newborns

The flu vaccine or influenza vaccine may be the most well-known of all immunizations. Thats because its one of the longest-running vaccines in the United States, with the first of its kind being approved for widespread use in 1945.

While influenza viruses circulate year-round, flu cases peak in the fall and winter months nearly every year. Flu shots help protect against the types of influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common that season. Thats why the CDC recommends annual flu shots for everyone by the end of October including kids 6 months and older.

When children receive their first flu shot, the vaccine is delivered in two doses, given at least one month apart. After that first pair of doses, just one shot is needed each year.

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Final Tips On Immunizations

Keep this information in mind to help your childs immunizations go more smoothly:

Common side effects of immunizations include swelling at the site of the injection, soreness, and fever. Discuss these side effects with your doctor and ask what symptoms deserve an office call.
Ask your doctor’s office if it participates in an immunization registry. This is a source you can go to if your immunization records get lost.
Ask your doctor’s office if it has an immunization reminder or recall system. This type of system will call to remind you when immunizations are due and will warn you if an immunization has been missed.
Always bring your immunizations record with you to all of your child’s office visits and make sure the doctor signs and dates every immunization.

Vaccines are some of the safest and most effective medicines we have, and they have made many dangerous childhood diseases rare today.

When Parents Choose Not To Vaccinate: Risks And Responsibilities

Parents are responsible for their childs health and well-being, including protecting them from vaccine-preventable diseases. The Canadian Paediatric Society urges all children to receive routine vaccinations and an annual influenza vaccine, unless there is a medical reason not to.

If you choose not to vaccinate your child, you should understand the risks. You need to know how to make it less likely that your child gets an infection or spreads disease to others.