Immunizations
One of the most important ways we keep children healthy is with vaccines. We immunize them against a large number of serious diseases such as measles, polio, whooping cough (pertussis), German measles (rubella), and meningitis, among others. It is easy to forget how devastating some of these diseases used to be because our vaccines are so effective at preventing them. The good news is that most of these diseases are now rare because most children are immunized against them.
A vaccine is usually a killed or inactivated extract ("antigen") of the germs (bacteria or viruses) that cause that disease. Most are given by injection, although there are some oral or nasal spray vaccines. The antigen primes the body to recognize that particular germ or infection as foreign and to mount a protective response against it if exposure should occur. The vaccine does not cause the disease. Moreover, vaccines are produced in a controlled way and are very safe.
Many vaccines need to be given several times in a series in order for the body to build up adequate immunity against those infections. The preferred timing of administering these vaccines has been carefully studied and is determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). At Harvard Vanguard we have incorporated the recommended schedules for immunization into our workflows for your child's routine visits. Click here to view the recommended schedule that we follow for routine immunizations of children ages birth to 6 years old.
In addition to these routine vaccines, we recommend influenza (flu) vaccine for all children above 6 months of age. In general, flu vaccines are given in the fall. If one of your child's routine visits occurs in the fall or winter, you will be offered flu vaccine in addition to the other usual immunizations. Otherwise you might need to make a special visit or visits for flu vaccine.
Please note that none of the vaccines on the routine immunization schedule contains the preservative thimerosal. Some flu vaccines do have a small amount of thimerosal as a preservative. Because some people are frightened of thimerosal, we make every attempt to use non-thimerosal containing flu vaccine for infants and toddlers, even though studies show that there is no proven harm from thimerosal.
Please ask your child's doctor or nurse if you have questions about specific vaccines or their potential benefits and side effects.
Carole Allen, M.D.
Director of Pediatrics
