How To Organize Your Newborn’s Immunization Schedule
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for vaccinations, if you’ve had a newborn within the last year, one of the biggest struggles you may encounter is when and how you should get your newborn’s vaccinations while also staying safe. The CDC annually publishes recommendations for children’s vaccination schedules each year. The timing and spacing of these immunizations provide the best protection for children to become immune to these preventable diseases.
How Vaccination Timelines Protect The Immune System
Vaccines help stimulate antibodies within the immune system, containing biological preparations and substances used to provide immunity against certain diseases. It is especially important for newborns due to the developmental milestones that they work to reach within the first year of their life. According to resources from the CDC, side effects should be taken into account for every shot received for your newborn, and it’s essential to pay attention to any abnormal signs your newborn may have to each vaccine received, including:
- Rashes, Tiredness, Headaches, Fever
- Swollen Throats, Swollen Glands, Weakness
- Stomach Pains, Loss of Appetite, Vomiting
- Severe Cough, Runny Nose, Muscle Pain
The CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices meet three times a year to review research on vaccines and make changes to the schedule, and no changes have been made yet to the 2021 schedule. Our suggestions for scheduling vaccines involve preparing these doses that allow the immune system to develop a defense against these diseases over time. By the time your child is 18 years old, your child should get the following vaccinations:
- Influenza (annual flu shot)
- Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP)
- Tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap “booster” for adolescents)
- Poliovirus (IPV)
- Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
- Varicella (Chickenpox)
- Pneumococcal (PCV)
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
- Rotavirus
- Hepatitis B (Hep B)
- Hepatitis A (Hep A)
- Human papillomavirus (HPV)
- Meningococcal (MenACWY)
- Meningococcal B (MenB)**
You can also protect your newborn from whooping cough by getting the Tdap vaccine through the 27th to 36th week of pregnancy for mother’s pregnant.
Will Covid-19 Vaccine Be Available For Newborns?
So far, there has not been any information presented about whether or not children, including toddlers and teenagers, will be able to take the Covid-19 vaccine until Spring 2021. Because the vaccine has been given to healthcare workers, residents in nursing homes, and those who present the highest infection risk, they can receive the vaccine. For the Covid-19 vaccine, some vaccines such as the Pfizer and Moderna have been approved for those 16 to 18 years of age. Because children are presented as lower risk for getting infected, those younger than 15 will likely be part of the final groups that receive the vaccine. Full pediatric vaccines against the Covid-19 virus haven’t been developed yet, and may not develop until late 2021.
