Your child's first vaccines - what you need to know

Definition

All content below is taken in its entirety from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Your Child's First Vaccines: What You Need to Know vaccine information statement (VIS): www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/multi.html.

Information

The vaccines included on this statement are likely to be given at the same time during infancy and early childhood. There are separate Vaccine Information Statements for other vaccines that are also routinely recommended for young children (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, rotavirus, influenza, and hepatitis A).

Your child is getting these vaccines today:

[ ] DTaP� � � � � �[ ] Hib� � � � � �[ ] Hepatitis B� � � � � �[ ] PCV � � � � [ ] Polio

(Provider: Check appropriate boxes)

1. Why get vaccinated?

Vaccines can prevent disease.�Childhood vaccination is essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening�diseases.

Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP)

Diphtheria (D) can lead to difficulty breathing, heart failure, paralysis, or death.

Tetanus (T) causes painful stiffening of the muscles. Tetanus can lead to serious health problems, including being unable to open the mouth, having trouble swallowing and breathing, or death.

Pertussis (aP), also known as "whooping cough," can cause uncontrollable, violent coughing that makes it hard to breathe, eat, or drink. Pertussis can be extremely serious especially in babies and young children, causing pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage, or death. In teens and adults, it can cause weight loss, loss of bladder control, passing out, and rib fractures from severe coughing.

Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) disease

Haemophilus influenzae type b can cause many different kinds of infections. Hib bacteria can cause mild illness, such as ear infections or bronchitis, or they can cause severe illness, such as infections of the blood. Hib infection can also cause pneumonia; severe swelling in the throat, making it hard to breathe; and infections of the blood, joints, bones, and covering of the heart.�Severe Hib infection, also called "invasive Hib disease," requires treatment in a hospital and can sometimes result in death.

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is a liver disease that can cause mild illness lasting a few weeks, or it can lead to a serious, lifelong illness. Acute hepatitis B infection is a short-term illness that can lead to fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movements), and pain in the muscles, joints, and stomach. Chronic hepatitis B infection is a long-term illness that occurs when the hepatitis B virus remains in a person's body. Most people who go on to develop chronic hepatitis B do not have symptoms, but it is still very serious and can lead to liver damage (cirrhosis), liver cancer, and death.

Pneumococcal disease (PCV)

Pneumococcal disease refers to any illness caused by pneumococcal bacteria. These bacteria can cause many types of illnesses, including pneumonia, which is an infection of the lungs. Besides pneumonia, pneumococcal bacteria can also cause ear infections, sinus infections, meningitis (infection of the tissue covering the brain and spinal cord), and bacteremia (infection of the blood). Most pneumococcal infections are mild. However, some can result in long-term problems, such as brain damage or hearing loss. Meningitis, bacteremia, and pneumonia caused by pneumococcal disease can be fatal.

Polio (or poliomyelitis) is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by poliovirus, which can infect a person's spinal cord, leading to paralysis. Most people infected with poliovirus have no symptoms, and many recover without complications. Some people will experience sore throat, fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, or stomach pain. A smaller group of people will develop more serious symptoms: paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs), meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain), or paralysis (can't move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both. Paralysis can lead to permanent disability and death.

2. DTaP, Hib, hepatitis B, pneumococcal conjugate, and polio vaccines

Infants and children usually need:

Some children might need fewer or more than the usual number of doses of some vaccines to have the best protection because of their age at vaccination or other circumstances.

Older children, adolescents, and adults with certain health conditions or other risk factors or who did not get vaccinated earler might also be recommended to receive 1 or more doses of some of these vaccines.

These vaccines are given as either stand-alone vaccines or as part of a combination vaccine (a type of vaccine that combines more than one vaccine together into one shot).

3. Talk with your health care provider

Tell your vaccination provider if the child getting the vaccine:

For all of these vaccines:

For DTaP:

For PCV:

In some cases, your child's health care provider may decide to postpone vaccination until a future visit.

Children with minor illnesses, such as a cold, may be vaccinated. Children who are moderately or severely ill should usually wait until they recover before being vaccinated.

Your child's health care provider can give you more information.

4. Risks of a vaccine reaction

For all of these vaccines:

For DTaP vaccine, Hib vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, and PCV:

For DTaP vaccine:

For PCV:

As with any medicine, there is a very remote chance of a vaccine causing a severe allergic reaction, other serious injury, or death.

5. What if there is a serious problem?

An allergic reaction could occur after the vaccinated person leaves the clinic. If you see signs of a severe allergic reaction (hives, swelling of the face and throat, difficulty breathing, a fast heartbeat, dizziness, or weakness), call 9-1-1 and get the person to the nearest hospital.

For other signs that concern you, call your health care provider.

Adverse reactions should be reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Your health care provider will usually file this report, or you can do it yourself. Visit the VAERS website at vaers.hhs.gov or call 1-800-822-7967. VAERS is only for reporting reactions, and VAERS staff members do not give medical advice.

6.The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) is a federal program that was created to compensate people who may have been injured by certain vaccines. Claims regarding alleged injury or death due to vaccination have a time limit for filing, which may be as short as two years. Visit the VICP website at www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation or call 1-800-338-2382 to learn about the program and about filing a claim.

7. How can I learn more?

Contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Vaccine information statements (VISs): Your child's first vaccines. www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/multi.html. Updated July 24, 2023. Accessed July 26, 2023.


Review Date: 7/26/2023
Reviewed By: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team. Editorial update 09/26/2024.
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