A Parent’s Guide To Vaccination
Vaccination is the best way to protect your child’s health
Parents are responsible for the well-being of their children, including protecting them from illness caused by diseases that are vaccine-preventable. Learn about vaccination and why it is important to your child’s health.
Parents agree that feeding and sleeping schedules are important to help keep children healthy. The same goes for childhood vaccinations. Vaccinating your children is the best way to keep them safe from many serious and potentially deadly diseases. You can help protect your children by getting them vaccinated on time and keeping their shots up to date.
Do Some Routine Childhood Vaccines Require An Adjusted Schedule For Travel
Before you go on any trip, your children should be up to date on their routine immunizations. In some cases, routine childhood vaccination schedules may need to be adjusted to provide extra protection for travel.
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For example, often MMR is given at the 1-year-old visit. But in case of travel, your travel specialist may recommend giving a dose of MMR vaccine before age 12 months . Note that in this case, youll still need to re-vaccinate the full course after age 1.
The Bottom Line On Infant Vaccine Safety
What this all boils down to: Vaccines are far safer than the diseases they prevent. Vaccine-preventable diseases can be very serious, may require hospitalization or even be deadly especially in infants and young children.
But because of vaccines, many of those childhood diseases have been almost wiped out in the U.S.
Concerned because you’ve heard vaccines are linked to autism? That myth has been disproven again and again by dozens of studies, including a decade-long one of half a million people published in 2019. Without a doubt, vaccines are one of medical science’s most amazing success stories definitely a story that merits more headlines.
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Which Vaccines Do You Recommend For Patients Planning On Starting A Family
First, aspiring parents should be up-to-date on all their childhood vaccines.
Rubella is one of the most important for a mother who wishes to become pregnant, because congenital rubella infection can cause many problems with a growing baby. This vaccine should be given before getting pregnant, as it is a live-virus vaccine and shouldnt be given to pregnant women.
“The antibodies generated by the flu shot will also circulate to the baby during pregnancy and protect the baby in early life.”
What Is The Dtap Vaccine
This is 3 vaccines in 1 shot. It protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. Its given as a series of 5 shots. The first is given when your child is 2 months old. The last is given when he or she is 4- to 6 years old. Diphtheria attacks the throat and heart. It can lead to heart failure and death. Tetanus is also called lockjaw. It can lead to severe muscle spasms and death. Pertussis causes severe coughing. It makes it hard to breathe, eat, and drink. It can lead to pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage, and death. The DTaP vaccine protects your child against these diseases for about 10 years. The Tdap vaccine is used as a booster to the DTaP vaccine. It prevents tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. Its given when your child is 11 years old or older.
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Diphtheria Tetanus And Pertussis
These vaccines have been given in combination since the late 1940s. The version used for babies is referred to as DTaP. It made sense to put these vaccines together, reducing three shots to one, because they are made in the same way, and they protect against these diseases in a similar way.
Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis are each caused by bacteria that make people sick by producing harmful proteins, called toxins. These toxins act like poisons, causing illness. By using inactivated toxins, called toxoids, as the vaccine, people develop antibodies that protect them if they are infected.
Of these three diseases, a baby is most likely to be exposed to pertussis, and pertussis is also the most dangerous because it causes a narrowing of the windpipes that makes it difficult for babies to get enough oxygen when they experience repeated bouts of coughing. Pertussis tends to be under-diagnosed in older children and adults, who frequently transmit it to babies. Unfortunately, of these three vaccines, pertussis is also the one that is least effective. Nonetheless, those immunized with pertussis vaccine are seven times less likely to be infected during an outbreak than those who arent immunized.
Will Multiple Vaccines At The Same Time Overload A Babys Immune System
The safety of giving multiple vaccines at once has been established by numerous studies. In fact, children are exposed to lots of foreign particles from the environment and their diets every day without adverse outcomes. Similarly, the amount of bacterial or viral particles in vaccines is not adequate to cause harm. Giving multiple vaccines at once ensures the child will acquire protection as early as possible and prevents unnecessary delay in vital vaccinations.
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Generally, there is no upper limit for the number of routine or travel vaccinations for babies that can be given at the same time. However, if live vaccines are to be given at separate times, each dose should be spaced out at least 28 days.
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What Is Herd Immunity
If enough people in your community are immunized against a certain disease, you can reach something called herd immunity. When this happens, diseases cant spread easily from person to person because most people are immune. This provides a layer of protection against the disease even for those who cannot be vaccinated, such as infants.
Herd immunity also prevents outbreaks by making it difficult for the disease to spread. The disease will become more and more rare, sometimes even disappearing entirely from the community.
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.
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When Should My Child Get Immunized
Children should get immunized during their first two years of life. Your child may need several doses of the vaccines to be fully protected. For example, healthcare providers recommend that children receive their first dose of MMR vaccination at 12 months of age or older and a second dose prior to elementary school entry . Children can get the vaccines at regularly scheduled well visits.
Recommended age at which the vaccines should be received and type of vaccine*
- Birth
*Certain vaccines can be given within a range of ages. This chart represents one recommended schedule. Your child’s pediatrician may follow different guidelines. Please consult with your child’s pediatrician for specific recommendations.
**The influenza vaccine is given annually. The initial dose can be given as early as 6 months of age.
Community Immunity And Disease Prevention
The more people who are vaccinated in the community, the lower the risk of infection for those who:
- aren’t vaccinated
- developed only partial immunity from the vaccine
This means that when your child is vaccinated, you protect them as well as those around them.
Community immunity helps protect those at high risk of developing disease and severe complications or death, such as:
- adults 65 years of age and older
- infants and children too young to be fully vaccinated
- people with health conditions that affect their immune system, such as those undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer
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What Are The Side Effects Of The Vaccines Are The Vaccines Safe
According to Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator , …after giving these vaccines to millions of children, it’s really reassuring to know that for young kids, these vaccines are exceedingly safe.
The FDA states that both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been rigorously tested for safety. Side effects of the vaccine for the age group of 6 months to 4-5 years of age were found to be mild and brief.
These include pain and swelling at the injection site and potentially some redness. Kids could also feel tired, sleepy, have a headache, or become irritable. Some families reported mild diarrhea, vomiting, and swollen lymph nodes, temporarily.
About myocarditis as a side effect, Dr. Rohatsch notes, Naturally, parents are concerned about the myocarditis side effect previously reported in teens and young adults. Vaccine trial results did not find instances of myocarditis in young children aged 6 months to 5 years of age. He adds, However, COVID-19 can also cause myocarditis. In fact, many viral infections have been associated with myocarditis, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and even the common cold. Its important to get the full perspective.
Theres a lot of information to sort through when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, and it can get overwhelming. To help you make sense of it all, consider talking to a healthcare provider. Solv can help you book same-day appointments with a physician near you.
Can I Let My Child Get The Chickenpox Instead Of Getting The Vaccine
Although chickenpox is a mild disease that many parents will remember from childhood , some children will develop serious cases with complications that can be fatal or cause permanent disabilities. The vaccine eliminates the risk of complications from the disease, and prevents children from infecting their siblings, friends and classmates.
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Tips For Preparing Your Family For Healthy Travels
Schedule your familys appointment with a travel clinic or travel medicine specialist four to six weeks before your departure date. Bring your and your childrens immunization records to every clinic visit so the health provider can sign and date each vaccination. And always bring your familys immunization records with you when you travel.
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What Diseases Do Vaccines Prevent
Vaccines protect your child against serious illnesses like polio, which can cause paralysis measles, which can cause brain swelling and blindness and tetanus, which can cause painful muscle contractions and difficulty eating and breathing, especially in newborns. For a list of the most common vaccines and the diseases they prevent, see this list of the most common vaccines and the diseases they prevent.
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When To Call Your Healthcare Provider
Serious reactions to vaccines are very rare. Call your healthcare provider or public health office if your child has unusual symptoms after vaccination.
Unusual symptoms may include:
- a fever above 40°C
- crying or fussing for more than 24 hours
- worsening swelling where the needle went in and/or
- unusual sleepiness.
You know your child best. If you notice anything that is not normal after a vaccination, check with your healthcare provider.
Do Vaccination Needles Hurt
Although generally quick, getting vaccinations can be painful for your child. The best way you can make it as painless as possible is to hold your child, and soothe and comfort them. Breastfeeding can also help reduce pain. You can use a number of other techniques to reduce the pain your child might experience.
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Preparing For Your Child’s Immunisation
When you take your child for each vaccination, it important to take your child’s My Health and Development Record or your child’s health record booklet, so that the doctor, nurse or health worker can record your child’s visit. These records are an important reminder of when your child’s next immunisations are due and which children in the family are immunised.
There is also the option of setting up an eHealth record for your child and downloading the My Child’s eHealth Record app.
Before the immunisation, you need to tell the doctor or nurse if your child:
Gonorrhea And Chlamydia Test
Some Ob/Gyn practices recommend routine testing at 32 weeks for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Texas is among the states with the highest rate of these sexually transmitted diseases. You may not even know you have these diseases because they dont always present with symptoms. However, the diseases can be passed to the baby during delivery and can cause an infection called ophthalmia neonatorum that may lead to blindness.
If you have been in a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship, you may feel comfortable declining this test. There is a chance the test will return a false-positive result, meaning it may show you have one of these diseases when you actually dont. Remember this before you panic that your partner is cheating on you.
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Access To Family Assistance Payments And Childcare Immunisation Requirements
To access family assistance payments such as Family Tax Benefit and Child Care Subsidies children are required to be vaccinated against the diseases as per the age appropriate early childhood vaccination schedule.
Additionally, some states and territories may require a child to meet the immunisation requirements, or provide an immunisation record, to enrol in early education and care services.
Find more information: Immunisations for access to family assistance payments and early childhood services.
Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation
Talking about immunisation for parents Answering your questions so you have the information you need to make a decision for your family.
Covid Vaccines For Small Children: Do Kids Under 5 Need Them All You Need To Know
For parents of babies, toddlers, and young kids, the long wait for COVID vaccines is over. On June 17th, 2022, the FDA authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for all children aged 6 months or older under an emergency use authorization .
Regarding the vaccine approval, the FDA Commissioner stated, …As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death. Right after the FDAs announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also endorsed these vaccines for children under 5.
The news of the vaccine approval brings some relief to concerned parents. After all, adults could get vaccinated against COVID as of August 2021, and children aged 5 – 11 could receive their vaccines as of October 2021 . However, children under 5 have remained completely vulnerable until now.
Heres more on the vaccines for children under 5 to help you make an informed decision.
For parents of babies, toddlers, and young kids, the long wait for COVID vaccines is over. On June 17th, 2022, the FDA authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for all children aged 6 months or older under an emergency use authorization .
Heres more on the vaccines for children under 5 to help you make an informed decision.
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How Effective Are Travel Vaccines
The effectiveness of vaccines varies. In general, most childhood vaccines provide more than 90% protection against diseases that are otherwise related to severe complications and death.
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Factors contributing to the effectiveness of vaccines include the recipients age, the recipients health status, the recipients immune response to the vaccine, and how well the vaccine components match the disease-causing bacteria or virus circulating in the population. In some cases, people who have developed only partial immunity to the vaccine may contract the disease. In this case, the vaccine helps reduce disease severity and prevent complications.
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.
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Texas Newborn Screening Program
Often referred to as the heelstick because blood is taken from the babys heel, these panels screen for diseases that range from common, such as sickle cell or cystic fibrosis, to much less common, such as phenylketonuria or congenital hypothyroidism. As of 2015, Texas program includes 53 diseases on its panel.
The first test is performed 24 to 48 hours after birth, and a second at one to two weeks at the pediatric care providers office. As with any screen, the goal is to find as many babies at risk as possible. When we detect these conditions early, it allows us to provide appropriate medical care such as altering the diet or providing medicine.
Its important to keep in mind that a positive screen will need to be confirmed with more specific testing.