What Vaccines Should Children Get

How Much Do Vaccines Cost

Washington teens younger than age 19 can get immunizations at no cost. You might have to pay a small charge for the office visit or for vaccine administration. However, you can ask for the fee to be waived if you can’t afford it. Clinics that get state-supplied vaccine are forbidden by law from denying your child a vaccine because you cannot pay. Most health insurance plans cover preventive health care costs, including vaccination, without applying deductibles or co-pays

Keeping Your Childs Vaccination Record Up To Date

Ask the doctor or nurse to give you a written record and take this record with you whenever you take your child to a doctor, a clinic or hospital. An up-to-date vaccine record is especially important if you move to a new province or territory, as vaccine schedules are not the same everywhere. Your child may miss vaccine doses if your new doctor or clinic does not know exactly which vaccines they have already received.

You can also use the CANImmunize smartphone app. CANImmunize is a digital tool for Canadians that securely stores their vaccination records and helps them get vaccinated on time. The app also provides access to information and resources about vaccination from trusted Canadian health sources, so people can make informed vaccination decisions for themselves and their families.

Childhood Vaccines: What They Are And Why Your Child Needs Them

A vaccine is a preventive treatment for certain medical diseases. These are diseases that are caused by infections and spread from person-to-person. Vaccines contain a weakened version of the infection or versions that resemble it. Most vaccines are given in childhood. Childhood vaccines help your childs body build up a protection against the disease if or when they are exposed to it.

Vaccines are important. They not only help keep your child healthy, they help all children by limiting the spread of disease and possibly eliminating serious childhood diseases.

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Diseases Prevented By Routine Vaccinations

Vaccinating your children protects them from many vaccine-preventable diseases.

Nearly all these diseases can spread easily from person to person, mainly through coughing and sneezing. They can be serious enough to cause severe complications or even death. Getting your children vaccinated on time gives them the protection they need to stay healthy.

Vaccines For Your Preteens And Teens

Preteens and teens need vaccines, too! As kids get older, they are still at risk for certain diseases. Before heading back to school, three vaccines are recommended for 11-12 year oldsHPV, Tdap, and meningococcal conjugate vaccinefor continued protection.

The HPV vaccine is important because it can prevent HPV infections that can cause cancer later in life. For other diseases, like whooping cough, the protection from vaccine doses received in childhood fades over time. Thats why 1112-year-olds are also recommended to get the booster shot called Tdap to help protect them from whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria. The quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine protects against some of the bacteria that can cause infections of the lining of the brain and spinal cord and bloodstream infections . These illnesses can be very serious, even fatal.

Its important to know that flu can be serious, even for healthy, young people. Preteens and teens are no exception, so older kids should get at least one flu vaccine every year.

Kids under 8 who have never had a flu vaccine, and those who have previously gotten only one dose, should get 2 doses of flu vaccine this season. Kids should get the first dose as soon as the flu vaccine is available and should get their second dose at least 28 days after the first dose.

Its Not Too Late

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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.

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.

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Why Is It Important To Keep Track Of Your Child’s Vaccination

Proof of vaccination may be requested. In some parts of Canada, children need to have all of their vaccinations up to date before starting school or daycare. This is needed to help prevent the spread of serious diseases in these settings.

Also, your child’s vaccination history is helpful if you ever need to take your child to see another healthcare provider or travel outside of Canada.

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.

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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

What Is The Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine

The meningococcal conjugate vaccine protects against four strains of bacterial meningitis caused by the bacteria N. meningitidis. Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the fluid around the brain and spinal cord. It is a serious illness that can cause high fever, headache, stiff neck, and confusion. It can also cause more serious complications, such as brain damage, hearing loss, or blindness.

Children should get the MCV4 vaccine at 11 to 12 years of age. Children older than 12 years of age who have not received the vaccine should receive it before starting high school.

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Vaccines: Who Should Avoid Them And Why

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend a range of vaccinations for Americans of all ages. These vaccines help prevent dangerous diseases that in the past would sicken countless people each year.

However, these vaccines may not be right for everyone. The CDC advises that certain people not get specific vaccines, or to wait before getting vaccinated. This is because different vaccines contain different components, and each vaccine can affect you differently. Your age, health conditions, and other factors all combine to determine if you should get each vaccine.

The CDC has prepared a detailed list of vaccines that specifies who should avoid getting each one and who should wait to get it. Certain individuals with a compromised immune system are typically advised to wait. And people who have experienced allergic reactions to a particular vaccine are generally told to avoid follow-up doses.

Here are guidelines for those who should avoid or delay some of the more common vaccines.

You should not get vaccinated for if you:

People with a history of should discuss the risks of the with their doctor.

• Mexico

Why Do I Need To Vaccinate My Child

Babies are born with immune systems that can fight most germs, but there are some serious diseases they can’t handle. That’s why they need vaccines to strengthen their immune system.

These diseases once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. But now with vaccines, your child can get immunity from these diseases without having to get sick. And for a few vaccines, getting vaccinated can actually give you a better immune response than getting the disease would.

Vaccinating your child also protects others. Normally, germs can travel quickly through a community and make a lot of people sick. If enough people get sick, it can lead to an outbreak. But when enough people are vaccinated against a certain disease, it’s harder for that disease to spread to others. This means that the entire community is less likely to get the disease.

Community immunity is especially important for the people who can’t get certain vaccines. For example, they may not be able to get a vaccine because they have weakened immune systems. Others may be allergic to certain vaccine ingredients. And newborn babies are too young to get some vaccines. Community immunity can help to protect them all.

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My Child Has Allergies Can They Get The Vaccine

Yes, though you might be asked to stick around the waiting room so health care providers can monitor them for allergic reactions that can occur after any vaccination.

“If the child has a history of anaphylaxis or other severe allergies, then the observation time after the injection may be 30 minutes instead of 15,” said Dr. Anne Liu, an infectious disease specialist with Stanford Hospital and Clinics and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

Children who have been prescribed an EpiPen for any reason should bring it to their vaccine appointment, Liu added.

As with adults, children with an allergy to an ingredient in Pfizer’s COVID-19 shouldn’t take it. You can find a list of ingredients in Pfizer’s vaccine for kids 5 to 11 on the FDA’s fact sheet.

How Can I Minimize The Pain

Needles can hurt. To lessen the pain you can:

• Apply a topical anesthetic an hour before getting the needle. You may have to confirm with your doctor what part of your childs body the shot will be given . Your pharmacist can help you find the cream.
• Nurse your baby while they get the needle, or give your baby sugar water just before the shot.
• Use distractions , suggest deep breathing, remain calm and physically comfort your child during the needle.

Do not give your child ibuprofen or acetaminophen before or around the time of vaccination as it does not prevent the pain of injection and it could have an impact on how well the vaccine works. These medications can be used to treat fever, pain, or other bothersome side effects if they develop after vaccination.

For tips on how to make vaccines as pain-free as possible:

Notes:

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Diphtheria And Tetanus Toxoids And Acellular Pertussis Adsorbed

• Brand Names: Daptacel and Infanrix
• What it’s for: Prevents the bacterial diseases diphtheria, tetanus , and pertussis . This combination vaccine is given as a series in infants and children 6 weeks through 6 years of age, prior to their 7th birthday. The bacteria that cause diphtheria can infect the throat, causing a thick covering that can lead to problems with breathing, paralysis, or heart failure. Tetanus can cause painful tightening of the muscles, seizures, paralysis, and death. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, has the initial symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, and a mild cough, which may seem like a typical cold. Usually, the cough slowly becomes more severe. Eventually the patient may experience bouts of rapid coughing followed by the whooping sound that gives the disease its common name as they try to inhale. While the coughing fit is occurring, the patient may vomit or turn blue from lack of air. Patients gradually recover over weeks to months.
• Common side effects may include: Fever, drowsiness, fussiness/irritability, and redness, soreness, or swelling at the injection site.
• Tell your healthcare provider beforehand if: The child is moderately or severely ill, has had swelling of the brain within 7 days after a previous dose of vaccine, has a neurologic disorder such as epilepsy, or has had a severe allergic reaction to a previous shot.

Importance Of Vaccines For Infant And Toddlers

For newborns, breast milk can help protect against many diseases. However, this immunity wears off after breastfeeding is over, and some children arent breastfed at all.

Whether or not children are breastfed, vaccines can help protect them from disease. Vaccines can also help prevent the spread of disease through the rest of the population through herd immunity.

Vaccines work by imitating infection of a certain disease in your childs body. This prompts your childs immune system to develop weapons called antibodies.

These antibodies fight the disease that the vaccine is meant to prevent. With their body now primed to make antibodies, your childs immune system can defeat future infection from the disease. Its an amazing feat.

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What Can Happen When A Child Isnt Immunised

Due to the high number of children receiving vaccinations in Northern Ireland over the past couple of decades, many serious childhood infectious diseases have disappeared altogether, like diphtheria, polio or tetanus or been dramatically reduced, such as measles and whooping cough.

In some countries it is more difficult to receive vaccines and as a result more people die from infectious diseases every year.

Unless vaccine uptake remains high in Northern Ireland, many of these serious infectious diseases will return from parts of the world where they still occur. If this happens, then children living in Northern Ireland that are not vaccinated will be at risk of these infections, their complications and even death.

What Are The Side Effects

Reported side effects in young children receiving a COVID-19 vaccine include fever, fatigue and pain at the injection site.

The two vaccines for younger children produced common, mild side effects including irritability, sleepiness, fever, fatigue and pain at the injection site, similar to the effects reported in a December 2021 CDC report on more than 8 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine given to kids 5 to 11.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a June 17 statement that parents of younger children “can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these COVID-19 vaccines and be assured that the agency was thorough in its evaluation of the data.”

Inflammation of the heart muscle, known as myocarditis, is a rare and typically mild side effect linked to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, mostly in adolescent males and young men ages 12 to 29.

In one study, the CDC said that only 54 recipients out of 1 million males ages 12 to 17 experienced myocarditis following their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine. Neither trial with younger children reported any cases of myocarditis, but the FDA said there isn’t enough data to adequately determine the risk.

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