From April to June 2021, around 4.73 million kids across India were given the measles vaccine, and 4.3 million children were administered the BCG vaccine. You too should consider vaccination for kids at the right ages. They need not only the above two vaccines but also a host of others.
A vaccine contains inactive or weakened parts of a specific antigen. When the vaccine is administered to a child, the antigen triggers an immune response within his/her body similar to its primary reaction to the actual pathogen. This helps build up the memory of the disease-causing organism and trains the body to combat the pathogen when exposed to it in future.
Vaccines Needed by Children
- BCG: Called the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine, it helps children fight against tuberculosis.
- Hep A: It can protect children against Hepatitis A.
- Hep B: It helps protect kids against Hepatitis B, an infection of the liver.
- OPV: Called the oral poliovirus vaccine, it can protect babies against the disease, poliomyelitis. OPV vaccines may include 1, 2 or all the 3 serotypes of the live attenuated strains of poliovirus.
- DTP: It helps kids fight diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (acellular pertussis or whole-cell pertussis/ whooping cough).
- IPV: Called the inactivated poliovirus vaccine, it is injected into a child’s body to protect him/her against poliomyelitis.
- Hib: It helps young children fight the bacteria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, which cause bacterial meningitis.
- PCV: Known as the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, it helps protect kids against pneumococcal conditions like pneumonia.
- PCV Booster: It is a booster shot for the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
- Rota: It helps children fight rotavirus which causes the disease, diphtheria.
- Influenza Vaccine: It prepares children to combat influenza (flu). Shots of this seasonal vaccine are provided every year.
- TCV: Called the Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine, it is injected to help protect children against typhoid fever. It is one of the many kinds of typhoid vaccines.
- MMR: This vaccine helps boost the immunity of kids against measles, mumps and rubella.
- Varicella vaccine: Also called the chickenpox vaccine, it prepares children to fight chickenpox.
- HPV: Known as the human papillomavirus vaccine, it boosts immunity in girls against HPV-induced infections and cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers.
- Tdap/Td: The Tdap vaccine helps protect kids against tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis. Td vaccines improve the immunity of children against tetanus and diphtheria.
Vaccination Schedule
- At birth: BCG, OPV, Hep-B1
- 6 weeks: DTP-1, IPV-1, Hep-B2, Hib-1, Rota-1, PCV-1
- 10 weeks: DTP-2, Hib-2, IPV-2, Hep-B3, Rota-2, PCV-2
- 14 weeks: DTP-3, Hib-3, IPV-3, Hep-B4, Rota-3, PCV-3
- 6 months: Influenza 1
- 7 months: Influenza 2
- 6–9 months: TCV
- 9 months: MMR-1 (Mumps, Measles, Rubella)
- 12 months: Hep-A1
- 12–15 months: PCV Booster
- 15 months: MMR-2, Varicella
- 16–18 months: DTP, IPV-B1, Hib-B1
- 18–19 months: Hep-A2, Varicella 2
- 4–6 years: DTP, MMR-3, IPV-B2
- 9–15 years (for girls): HPV (2 doses)
- 10–12 years: Tdap/Td
- At the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th years: Annual Influenza Vaccine
Make sure that vaccination schedule for your kid are timely completed with all the doses of the required vaccines at a children hospital that strictly follows covid-19 safety protocols.