YOUR BABY’S FIRST VACCINES
Babies get six vaccines between birth and 6 months of age. They include; Hepatitis B, Polio, Pneumococcal Disease, Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis, Rotavirus and Hib. These vaccines may be given separately, or some may even be given together in the same shot. ( Example; Hep B and Hib can be given together or DTaP and Polio and Hep B). These combination vaccines are as safe and effective as the individual, and mean fewer shots for your baby.
Your children’s first vaccines protect them from 8 serious diseases, caused by viruses and bacteria. These diseases have injured and killed many children (and adults) over the years. Polio paralyzed about 37,000 people and killed about 1,700 each year in the 1950’s before there was a vaccine. In the 1980’s Hib disease was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under the age of 5. About 15,000 people a year died from diphtheria before there was a vaccine. Most children have had at least one rotavirus infection by their 5th birthday.
· DIPHTHERIA-(Bacteria)You can get it from contact with an infected person. Signs and symptoms include a thick covering in the back of the throat that can make it hard to breathe. It can lead to breathing problems, heart failure, and even death.
· TETANUS (Lockjaw)-(Bacteria)You can get it from a cut or wound, it does not spread from person to person. Signs and symptoms include painful tightening of the muscles, usually over the entire body. It can lead to stiffness of the jaw, so the victim cannot open his/her mouth or swallow. It leads to death in about 1 out of every 5 reported cases.
· PERTUSSIS (Whooping Cough)- (Bacteria) You can get it from contact with an infected person. Signs and symptoms include violent coughing spells that can make it hard for an infant to eat, drink, or breathe. These spells can last for weeks. It can lead to pneumonia, seizures (jerking & staring spells), brain damage and death.
· HIB(Haemophilus influenza type b)-(Bacteria) You can get it from contact with an infected person. There may be no signs or symptoms in mild cases. It can lead to meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord coverings); pneumonia; infections of the blood, joints, bones, and coverings of the heart; brain damage; deafness; and death.
· HEPATITIS B-(virus)You can get it from contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected person. Babies can get it at birth if the mother is infected or through a cut or wound. Adults can get it from unprotected sex, sharing needles, or other exposures to blood. Signs and symptoms include tiredness, diarrhea and vomiting, jaundice(yellow skin or yellowing of the whites of the eyes), and muscle pain, or pain in the joints and or stomach. It can lead to liver damage, liver cancer, and death.
· POLIO-(virus)You can get it from close contact with an infected person. It enters the body through the mouth. Signs and symptoms can include a cold-like illness, or there may be no symptoms at all. It can lead to paralysis, or death.
· PNEUMOCOCCAL-(Bacteria)You can get it from an infected person. Signs and symptoms include fever, chills, cough, and chest pain. It can lead to meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord coverings), blood infections, ear infections, pneumonia, deafness, brain damage, and death.
· ROTAVIRUS-(virus)You can get it from contact with other children who are infected. Signs and symptoms include severe diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. It can lead to dehydration, hospitalization (up to about 70,000/year) and death.
HOW VACCINES WORK
Immunity from disease: When a child gets sick with one of these diseases, his/her immune system produces immunity, which keeps your child from getting sick with the same disease again. But, getting sick is unpleasant and dangerous.
Immunity from vaccines: Vaccines are made with the same bacteria or viruses that cause the disease, but they have been weakened or killed to make them safe. A child’s immune system responds to the vaccine the same way it would if the child had the disease. This means your child will develop immunity without having to actually get sick first.
PRECAUTIONS
If your child is sick on the date that vaccinations are scheduled your provider may want to put them off until your child recovers. A child with a minor cold or low fever can usually be vaccinated that day, but you may want to reschedule for more serious illness. SOME CHILDREN SHOULD NOT GET CERTAIN VACCINES. Talk with your health care provider if your child has had a serious reaction after a previous dose of a vaccine, or has life-threatening allergies. (These reactions and allergies are rare).
VACCINE RISKS
Vaccines can cause side effects, like any other medicine. Mostly these are mild, “local” reactions such as tenderness at the injection site, redness and swelling where the injection was given, or a mild fever. They happen in up to 1 in 4 children with most childhood vaccines. They usually appear soon after the shot is given and go away within a day or two.
More severe reactions can also occur, but this happens much less often. Some of these reactions are so uncommon that experts cannot tell whether they are caused by vaccines or not.
Among the most serious reactions to vaccines are severe allergic reactions to a substance in the vaccine. These reactions happen very rarely-less than one in a million shots. They usually happen very soon after the shot is given. Doctor’s office and clinic staff are trained to deal with them. The risk of any vaccine causing serious harm, or, death is extremely small. Getting a disease is much more likely to harm a child than getting a vaccine.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: www.cdc.gov/vaccines or call 1-800-232-4636 to contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |