Vaccination is an essential aspect of a baby’s health and well-being. It protects them from fatal illnesses. Here is all you need to know about vaccination.
Vaccination introduces a product (vaccine) into the body to protect against serious and deadly diseases.
Vaccines prepare your body to fight the disease faster and more effectively by stimulating your body’s natural defense.
They help your immune system to fight infection efficiently by sparking your immune response to a certain disease. Then, if a virus or bacteria ever invades your body, your immune system will already know how to fight it.
Vaccines undergo extensive safety testing and clinical trials before approval, ensuring their safety for public use.
Common vaccinations for children under five years
BCG
The vaccine is administered through a skin injection shortly after birth. BCG helps build immunity against tuberculosis.
Oral polio vaccine (OPV)
Given at 6th week, 10th week and 14th week
OPV is given orally and is used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio).
The poliovirus causes poliomyelitis, a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can lead to paralysis. It spreads from one person to another and has no cure, but vaccination can prevent it.
DPT-HepB-Hib vaccine{ diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b}
The vaccine is administered at the 6th, 10th, and 14th weeks.
Pentavalent is a vaccine that contains 5 antigens (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b).
Diphtheria
It is a highly infectious bacterial infection that affects the throat and nose, and sometimes it can affect the skin. Furthermore, diphtheria bacteria can spread from one person to another through respiratory droplets, such as coughing and sneezing. Signs and symptoms include weakness, sore throat, fever, and swollen glands in the neck.
Pertussis
It is also known as whooping cough. It’s a highly contagious and serious bacterial infection that can spread from one person to the other through coughing and sneezing. The infection also causes severe coughing spells, making breathing, eating, or sleeping hard. Symptoms may include runny or stuffed up nose, fever, apnea{life-threatening pauses in breathing}, cough, and cyanosis (turning blue or purple in babies).
Tetanus
Clostridium tetani bacteria cause tetanus, a bacterial infection.The tetanus bacteria’s spores are present almost everywhereband when they enter the body, they develop into bacteria. Tetanus does not spread from one person to another. Painful muscle stiffness, jaw cramping, changes in blood pressure and heart rates, fever, and headache are some of the signs and symptoms of tetanus.
Hepatitis B
The hepatitis B virus causes hepatitis B, a serious viral disease. The virus can cause long-life liver infection, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver failure, and death. It can also be spread through exposure to infected blood and body fluids, as well as needlestick injuries and piercings. Hepatitis B infections include jaundice, dark urine, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
Haemophilus influenzae type b
It is a bacterial infection that causes several serious and life-threatening illnesses, especially in babies. Some of the infections that H. influenzae can cause include:
- Meningitis – infection in the lining of the brain and spinal cord
- Sepsis -infection of the blood
- Pneumonia – lung infection
- Cellulitis – infection of the skin and underlying tissues
- Pericarditis – infection of the lining surrounding the heart
Pneumococcal vaccine { PCV 10}
Given at 6th week, 10th week, and 14th week
This vaccine prevents infections caused by the bacterium streptococcus pneumoniae such as meningitis, sepsis, and pneumonia.
Measles vaccine
Given at 9 months and 18th months
Healthcare providers administer this vaccine to prevent measles, a disease caused by the measles virus. Moreover, measles is a highly contagious viral illness transmitted through respiratory droplets or direct contact with secretions from the nose or throat of an infected person. Symptoms of measles typically develop 7-14 days after infection and include cough, fever, runny nose, sore throat, and red eyes. Additionally, a red rash on the face may manifest 3-5 days after the symptoms begin, extending to the neck, arms, trunk, and legs.
Yellow fever vaccine
Healthcare providers administer the vaccine at 9 months. Additionally, the vaccine prevents yellow fever, which mosquitos transmit through their bites. Symptoms of yellow fever include backache, headache, fever, and muscle aches.
Vitamin A
The vaccine administration starts at 6 months with a dose of 100,000 IU, followed by 200,000 IU at 12 months, and every 6 months thereafter until 60 months.Vitamin A is important for growth and development, the immune system, reproduction, and vision.
Hence, protect against serious and life-threatening diseases and infections such as polio which causes paralysis, tetanus, measles, and hepatitis B among others, especially in newborns and younger children. One of the best ways to protect your child is to follow the recommended vaccination schedule. Delay in any vaccine schedule increases your child’s vulnerability to disease.