We vaccinate a 0-2 year old child: vaccination according to the calendar and more

Table of contents:

• What is a vaccination calendar?
• What should a child be vaccinated and when?
• In what cases are test results required for admission to vaccination?
• Why do children need to be vaccinated so early? Is it possible to postpone vaccination?
• In what cases should vaccination not be carried out?
• How does a reaction to a vaccine differ from complications?
• Is it possible to get sick from a vaccine against the disease against which it is given?
• Why should I vaccinate my child if everyone around me is vaccinated?
• “I heard a story: a healthy child was vaccinated, and after that he became seriously ill and became disabled”
• Why get vaccinated against chickenpox? After all, this is a mild childhood illness.
• The meningococcal vaccine is very expensive. Is it really necessary?
• Why is it better to choose a vaccine with a component that protects against Haemophilus influenzae infection?
• Why is it necessary to vaccinate a child against pneumococcus?
• We have never heard of the rotavirus vaccine. Why is it needed?
• How many vaccines can be given at one time?
• What should be the intervals between vaccinations?

What is a vaccination calendar?

The national vaccination calendar is a list of all vaccinations that the state provides to people free of charge to the entire population. As a rule, this calendar includes vaccines from domestic manufacturers, although there are exceptions. It is important that the national calendar is not a “list of all necessary vaccinations.” This list itself is broader, and it may include completely different vaccines. If parents have the opportunity to get vaccinated for a fee, they can supplement the calendar with those vaccines that are not included in it and replace the free vaccine options with paid ones.

All about the vaccination calendar

What diseases are vaccinated against?

There are many vaccines available in modern medicine.

Some types of vaccines are considered mandatory and are included in the vaccination calendar, others are given during epidemiological outbreaks.

BCG

This first and most important vaccine is given in the maternity hospital. It protects the newborn from infection with tuberculosis.

Due to the anatomical features of the respiratory system of babies, any respiratory diseases are extremely dangerous for them. This is why it is so important to protect the child from the first days of life.

Hepatitis B

The next routine vaccination is against hepatitis B. This is one of the most serious diseases, which is subject to long-term treatment with a low percentage of favorable outcomes. You can encounter it everywhere, even in a regular dental office.

Tetanus

The causative agent of this disease is found in the soil, in dog feces, and on rusty metals. Enters the body through the blood. The child often falls, gets scratches, abrasions, so there is a high chance that during the next fall the tetanus bacteria will still enter the body.

With the bloodstream, the microbe enters the nervous system, causing severe convulsions. The most dangerous is a spasm of the respiratory muscles, which leads to suffocation and death. During attacks, due to strong extension of the spine, you can get multiple injuries with subsequent disability. There is no cure for the disease, and the number of survivors is extremely small; as a rule, they are profoundly disabled.

Doctor's advice

There are cases when vaccination of children causes complications; this cannot be predicted. However, a negative reaction can occur to any drug or food product, detergent, or even new clothes due to dye. Every day, thousands of people turn to doctors with allergic manifestations of varying severity, even coma due to various reasons. Terrible diseases can only be prevented by administering a vaccine; each parent who has written a waiver of this procedure bears responsibility for the health of the child.

Victoria Druzhikina Neurologist, Therapist

Whooping cough

An extremely serious disease characterized by spasmodic paroxysmal coughing up to respiratory arrest. The older a person is, the easier he tolerates this infection.

In adults, whooping cough is most often completely asymptomatic, but for infants this disease is very dangerous. A child may simply suffocate during coughing attacks.

Diphtheria

It is accompanied by severe intoxication of the body and inflammation of the organs of the respiratory system with the formation of a filmy coating on them, which blocks the airways and leads to suffocation.

This is especially significant for infants, who have such small lumen sizes in the upper respiratory tract that any formation can cause serious harm to health.

It is almost impossible to remove these films due to their dense fusion with tissues. The slightest attempts to tear off plaque lead to severe pain and the formation of bleeding wounds on the mucous membrane.

Polio

Multiple lesions of the gray matter of the brain with the subsequent development of paresis and paralysis of those parts of the body that innervate the affected area of ​​the nervous system.

Measles

It is dangerous not so much because of the disorders caused by the virus as because of the complications of the disease. These include croup (larynx stenosis), measles pneumonia, central nervous system lesions, and lymphadenitis.

Rubella

Dangerous complications on the reproductive system. It poses a particular threat to a pregnant woman who is unvaccinated and has not had rubella in childhood. Causes multiple deformities of the fetus, and in early pregnancy - miscarriage. If a pregnant woman is infected with rubella, an abortion is performed for medical reasons.

Mumps

It often causes complications in the urinary system with damage to the kidneys, affects the functioning of the pancreas, and also causes infertility.

Among the unscheduled vaccines, vaccinations are carried out against certain strains of influenza virus, meningococcal infection, adenovirus, typhoid fever, smallpox, cholera, and plague.

Pneumococcal infection

Pneumococcus is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia at any age. In children under three years of age, pneumonia is especially dangerous due to the structure of the respiratory tract and can be fatal. This vaccination forms the development of immunity against pneumococcus, i.e. when encountering a real pathogen, the body will have the means to fight it and pneumonia will not develop. Included in the list of mandatory requirements in 36 countries, incl. – in the USA and Europe. In the Russian Federation, it was included in the National Vaccination Calendar (the main guideline for vaccination of the population of all ages) in 2014. Before this, it was carried out at the request of the parents. The vaccinations are called “Prevenar”, “Pneumo 23”, “Pneumovax 23”.

They differ in manufacturer, cost and age from which use is permitted. "Prevenar" is used in children from 2 months, because promotes the development of immunity against 7 subspecies of pneumococcus, the rest - from 2 years, after their administration, immunity to 23 types of microorganisms is formed.

What should a child be vaccinated and when?

We have compiled for you our own extended list of infections against which your baby must be vaccinated.
In some places we also indicate specific vaccines, but at the time of writing this article there are significant difficulties with their supply in St. Petersburg. Most vaccines for a specific disease are interchangeable. When choosing a vaccine, remember that combination vaccines (those that include vaccines against several infections at once) are better than single vaccines. So, vaccinate your baby against the following diseases:

• tuberculosis - in the maternity hospital;
• hepatitis B - first vaccination in the maternity hospital, then at 1 and 6 months;
• rotavirus - from 6 weeks;
• whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hemophilus influenzae. There is a Pentaxim vaccine that protects against all these diseases at once, as well as Infanrix Hexa, which in addition to them also contains a vaccine against hepatitis B. The timing of administration varies depending on the vaccines available to you, but in any case, vaccination against these diseases must be completed by 6 months;
• pneumococcus - (Prevenar, from 2 months);
• influenza - (annually in the fall, from 6 months);
• meningitis - (Menactra, from 9 months);
• measles, rubella, mumps - (Priorix or analogues, from 12 months);
• hepatitis A - from 12 months;
• chickenpox - from 12 months.

Consult with your pediatrician to schedule vaccines and when to give them.

Vaccination schedule by month for children under one year old

• 1 month – against viral hepatitis B – second vaccination.
• 2 month – vaccination against pneumococcal infection.
• 2-3 months - the first comprehensive vaccination against whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, at the same time the first vaccination against polio is given.
• 4-5 months - second vaccination against diphtheria, whooping cough, plus a second vaccination against polio.
• 6 months – third vaccination against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio; against viral hepatitis B - third vaccination.
• 12 months – vaccination against measles, rubella, mumps.

Why do children need to be vaccinated so early? Is it possible to postpone vaccination?

Many people do this, but we don’t recommend it.

• Firstly, most vaccinated infections are deadly for young children. Deaths from whooping cough, pneumococcal pneumonia, and diseases caused by Haemophilus influenzae are most often recorded precisely at the age of 2-3 years. At 9-24 months there is a peak incidence of meningococcal meningitis, especially its invasive (most dangerous) form.
• Secondly, parental concerns about “immature immunity” are completely unfounded. The child’s immune system is constantly experiencing some antigenic load, and vaccination does not interfere, but helps it mature. Vaccinations are designed specifically for children. Of course, infant immunity is imperfect, so some vaccines are repeated. But following the correct schedule guarantees reliable protection against infection.
• Thirdly, the older the child, the more pronounced the reactions to vaccinations are, precisely because of the “ripe” immunity. This in itself is not scary, but redness and pain at the injection site, high fever and other “joys” are much more common in children with delayed vaccinations, and are not typical for infants.

Many parents ask the doctor to give them a waiver, and pediatricians follow their lead. In fact, neither colic, nor an umbilical hernia, nor small residual cysts in the baby’s brain, nor even a runny nose without a rise in temperature will in any way affect the child’s condition after vaccination. Such challenges have no medical basis. Unfortunately, most cases of severe childhood infections are detected in children whose parents decided to “just wait six months or a year.”

In what cases should vaccination not be carried out?

• Acute febrile condition, for example, with ARVI. As soon as the temperature drops, you can wait 3-4 days and get vaccinated. A runny nose and cough without fever are not a contraindication to vaccination!
• Seizures (children with epilepsy who do not show seizures on medications can be vaccinated).
• Exacerbation of chronic diseases. At the same time, atopic dermatitis, anemia, benign neutropenia of childhood and other asymptomatic or easily removable conditions are not contraindications.
• Severe reaction to a previous administration of the same vaccine. At the same time, a vaccine against a specific infection can and should be replaced with an analogue.
• There is one more contraindication for live vaccines: immunodeficiency - primary (congenital), HIV infection or resulting from treatment with hormones or chemotherapy. All these conditions cannot be “accidentally overlooked.”
• It is important that vaccination should not be delayed due to “incorrect” test results. Moreover, the requirement to take tests before vaccination is unlawful, and you can refuse to do so.

Why is it important to vaccinate children?

Vaccination is needed to protect a child from dangerous diseases that can cause severe complications, disability or even death. Thus, polio threatens paralysis, measles - encephalitis, pneumococcal infection - pneumonia and meningitis. Many parents, when deciding to vaccinate, are afraid of post-vaccination complications, but they are much less common than the severe consequences of the diseases against which children are vaccinated. Not to mention the drug burden on the liver, kidneys and other internal organs during treatment for vaccine-preventable infections.

There are no effective treatments for some infections. For other diseases, existing treatment may be ineffective (pathogens are increasingly developing resistance to antibiotics every year), and the child may suffer. Completing mandatory vaccinations is the most reliable prevention of such tragedies.

The baby's first months of life are protected from infections by the mother's antibodies, obtained through the placenta and with milk during breastfeeding, but this protection is not enough and weakens over time. Vaccinating children helps protect them from dangerous diseases. Even if the baby grows up in a safe environment, the risk of contracting dangerous infections remains. It will not be possible to completely control all his contacts, to exclude being with other people in the premises and the transmission of pathogens.

Important! In Russia, vaccines against major diseases are free. They are administered to children according to a specific schedule - the national vaccination calendar. A full course of vaccination allows you to build immunity against the twelve most dangerous infectious diseases. Vaccination of children is carried out under mandatory medical supervision, taking into account a number of conditions: health status, contraindications, allergies. This eliminates the risk of complications and forms stable immunity.

You should not refuse vaccinations also because this entails a number of restrictions:

• In the event of an epidemic threat, schools and kindergartens may refuse to allow unvaccinated children to attend. If quarantines are introduced sequentially for different reasons, and the incubation periods of diseases are long, the period of isolation can be up to several months. Violation of quarantine for a baby who has not been vaccinated is dangerous due to an increased risk of infection;
• a child who has not received polio vaccine should be separated from children vaccinated with oral polio vaccine for 60 days (live polio vaccine virus can be transmitted from child to child and is extremely rarely capable of causing symptoms of the disease if the child has not previously received an inactivated vaccine);
• a child without mandatory vaccinations may be prohibited from entering some countries.

The consequences of refusing vaccination can come back to haunt you in adulthood. When applying for a job that involves a risk of infection, or in an organization that monitors the health of employees, the applicant will not pass a medical examination.

An additional argument in favor of vaccination is the formation of herd immunity. If at least 80-95% of the population is vaccinated, the infection cannot spread, which means that the risk of getting sick is reduced for everyone, including those who cannot get vaccinated due to contraindications (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. How herd immunity is formed. A - there are no vaccinated people, and the infection affects almost everyone. B - There are few vaccinated people, almost all unvaccinated people get sick. C - there are many vaccinated people, the infection does not spread well. Source

How does a reaction to a vaccine differ from complications?

A reaction to a vaccine is a variant of the norm. After all, vaccination is an accelerated, stimulated development of immunity. The reaction may be local (swelling, pain, redness at the injection site) or general (fever, poor sleep and appetite, headache, rash).

The reaction to the vaccine is not dangerous and goes away within 1-2 days. If the fever lasts longer or occurs later, the vaccine is not the cause.

Complications from vaccination, in contrast to post-vaccination reactions, occur extremely rarely and are severe. Thus, 1 out of 10,000,000 children vaccinated against measles develops post-vaccination measles encephalitis, and pneumococcal vaccines have not caused a single complication in the entire history of observation. Information on the frequency of complications can be easily found in open sources. WHO collects and analyzes all cases of complications and, based on this, adjusts its recommendations on vaccinations. Complications can be caused by improper administration or storage of the vaccine, or violation of vaccination rules (for example, if a child with an infectious disease was vaccinated).

In addition, (also very rarely) an allergic reaction to vaccine components occurs. This is why parents are often asked to wait in the hallway for half an hour after vaccination. An allergy to the vaccine, if any, manifests itself immediately, and doctors are prepared for such situations.

Why get vaccinated against chickenpox? It's a mild childhood illness.

Indeed, most often chickenpox passes quickly and without traces in a child, although a high fever and an itchy rash are also not a gift. But sometimes chickenpox can cause serious complications: encephalitis, pneumonia, epiglottitis.

The older the child, the more severe chickenpox tends to be. In addition, chickenpox is an extremely contagious disease. That’s why it’s called that, because the virus is literally carried by the wind over a distance of up to twenty meters.

And if we decide that our child can get over the disease, then we are also responsible for that pregnant woman who sits opposite us on the transport and whose plans do not include the disease.

Therefore, it is better not to get chickenpox - but to get vaccinated against it in advance!

Chickenpox vaccination for children

Chickenpox vaccination for children is carried out at a later age, starting from 12 months after birth, but there is no upper limit. It can be carried out at the age of 14 and 20, as well as immediately after possible contact with an infected person, but no later than three days.

Is it mandatory for a child to be vaccinated against chickenpox? The answer is negative. Only at the request of parents or an adult can this manipulation be carried out, which can probably protect you from an unpleasant disease.

The meningococcal vaccine is very expensive. Is it really necessary?

Vaccination against meningococcus is of great importance for both young children and adolescents. It is children under 5 years of age who most often become victims of the invasive form of the disease - meningococcemia (more than 30% of all cases). In fulminant forms, only a few hours may pass from the first symptoms to death. Meningococcemia and meningococcal meningitis have a high mortality rate - about 15%, even with timely treatment. It is not difficult to understand that meningococcal infection at the moment, although rare, is the most terrible of childhood diseases.

In the North-West region, the incidence of meningococcal infection caused by serogroup B (not included in the vaccine) has decreased in recent years at the expense of serogroup W (which is included). Therefore, if you have the opportunity, it is definitely worth vaccinating your child.

We have never heard of the rotavirus vaccine. Why is it needed?

The RotaTek vaccine is used for vaccination against rotavirus. These are drops in the mouth, not an injection. Rotavirus enteritis can be a very dangerous disease for infants and children under 5 years of age. The mortality rate with it is not so low - 3%, and in children under one year old, even a moderate course threatens with rapid dehydration. RotaTek reduces the likelihood of disease (protection efficiency is 98% in the first season, then 70%) and makes the course of the disease easier, protecting against dangerous complications. Therefore, it is better to vaccinate your child, especially since complications from this vaccination occur infrequently.

Vaccination against polio

Before taking this step, it is worth finding out about the child’s reaction to this action. First of all, it is necessary to examine the baby by a pediatrician and only with his permission can vaccination be carried out in order to prevent this disease.

There may be side effects in the form of mild malaise or a slight increase in body temperature. Children also often experience tearfulness, irritability, irregular loose stools and refusal to eat.

What should be the intervals between vaccinations?

It has been established that longer than recommended intervals between vaccine doses do not significantly reduce the antibody response. In this regard, interruption of the immunization schedule does not require the restoration of the full vaccination series or the addition of additional doses of the vaccine. However, administering doses of vaccines or toxoids at shorter than recommended intervals may reduce the antibody response and should therefore be avoided. This is especially important for primary immunization.

The minimum interval is 1 month; after the administration of some live vaccines, the next vaccination can be administered only after 2 months; the correct sequence and duration of intervals is determined by the doctor in each specific situation.