Essential Childhood Vaccinations: Protecting Your Child’s Health

Vaccination is a way to strengthen the immune system in the body to resist various infectious diseases. It involves injecting vaccines against viruses or bacteria. Vaccines help maintain the immune system’s health when exposed to viruses or bacteria, making the vaccinated child’s body more immune to the disease, or causing only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all due to the formation of antibodies in the body.

Recognizing the importance of vaccination, parents should pay attention to the following mandatory vaccines and provide them to their children while continuously monitoring their effects, according to the website "webmd":

Hepatitis B

A child should receive 4 doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine.

Hepatitis B is a liver inflammation caused by the Hepatitis B virus and is transmitted through blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids. Its acute symptoms in children include weakness, fever, loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), nausea, and vomiting. Hepatitis B can develop into a chronic disease, such as liver failure or liver cancer, which can threaten the child’s life.

On the other hand, the Hepatitis B vaccine is given to newborns within 24 hours of birth, provided their weight is more than 2 kg. This is usually preceded by a Vitamin K1 injection. The vaccination is repeated three more times when the child reaches the ages of two, three, or four months. This means the child receives a total of 4 doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine.

Polio

Polio is a viral disease that affects the nerves, causing paralysis, muscle wasting, and death within hours. Death can occur due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles and inability to move. Polio can affect any age but is relatively more dangerous to young children.

Children receive the oral polio vaccine (OPV) from birth up to one month of age. The vaccine is then repeated at two, three, and four months. This means children receive the polio vaccine four times.

Tuberculosis (BCG Vaccine)

A child can get tuberculosis if they inhale Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria from the air. Symptoms in children include a long-lasting cough for more than three weeks, fever, difficulty breathing, delayed growth, and weakness. If treatment is delayed, tuberculosis can cause lung collapse and brain damage.

The BCG vaccine is given once in a lifetime, when the child is two or three months old. If the child is older than three months, the BCG vaccine is given only if the tuberculin test result is negative.

Diphtheria, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), and Tetanus (DPT Vaccine)

These are three different bacterial diseases that pose a high risk of death. Diphtheria affects the upper respiratory tract causing symptoms such as fever, difficulty swallowing, noisy breathing, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck.

Whooping cough causes a prolonged cough lasting from one to three months, known as the “hundred-day cough,” along with fever and a runny nose.

Tetanus is very dangerous because the toxin released by the bacteria can attack the nerves, causing convulsions, breathing difficulties, and irregular heartbeat.

The DPT vaccine is given as a single injection three times, when the child is between two and eleven months old, with a four-week interval between doses. The vaccine is given three times because antibody levels in the body are very low after the first dose and require follow-up doses to reach optimal antibody levels.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia affects children because their immune systems are not fully developed yet. It can be caused by infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria. Symptoms of pneumococcal pneumonia include high fever, excessive sweating, chills, cough, and difficulty breathing.

Children with pneumococcal pneumonia may need to be hospitalized for at least six days, and in severe cases, it may cause death.

The pneumococcal vaccine schedule starts when the child is two months old, repeated at four and six months, with a booster dose at 12-15 months.

Rotavirus Vaccine

Rotavirus is a virus that infects the digestive system, often due to poor hand hygiene after using the bathroom or changing diapers. It can cause uncomfortable symptoms in children under 3 years old.

Symptoms of rotavirus infection appear about two days after exposure and include diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, high fever, dehydration, and abdominal pain.

There are two types of rotavirus vaccines. The first type is monovalent, given twice: the first dose at six weeks old and the second dose four weeks later.

MMR Vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella)

This vaccine protects against three diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella.

Early symptoms of measles in children include a cough with phlegm, runny nose, high fever, and red eyes. Complications can include pneumonia, brain damage, deafness, or even death.

Mumps symptoms include headache, pain when chewing, and swollen salivary glands near the ears.

Rubella causes a rash on the face and all over the body, which may be accompanied by complications such as pneumonia, diarrhea, meningitis, and sometimes death.

The first dose of the MMR vaccine is given to children between 12 and 15 months old, with a second (booster) dose given between 3 and 5 years of age.