Vaccines offer protection against serious, contagious, and deadly diseases and are a key to good health. Vaccination is important not only for your family but also for public health. To understand the importance of vaccination and why a vaccination schedule or chart has to be followed, read on.

Who should get vaccinated?

Everyone should get vaccinated against diseases that can be prevented by vaccination.

Vaccines are usually given:

During infancy and childhood.
As boosters
During seasonal infections like the flu
In adults over the age of 50, the likelihood of getting certain diseases increases
When travelling to places where certain diseases are prevalent

What is a vaccination or immunisation schedule or chart?

A vaccination schedule or immunisation chart recommends when you should get vaccinated for each disease that vaccines can prevent or lessen the severity of. It is mainly based on age. Children usually get most of the vaccines because they are prone to get infected by certain diseases at certain ages. For example, polio occurs most frequently in children below the age of five.

Immunisation schedule and chart for children

Time	Vaccine	Protection against
At Birth	Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) 0 dose Hepatitis B	Tuberculosis Polio Hepatitis B
6 Weeks	OPV-1 Pentavalent-1 (DPT) Rotavirus Vaccine RVV-1 Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-1) Inactivated Polio Vaccine (fIPV)—1	Diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, HiB Different rotaviruses Meningitis, septicemia, and pneumonia
10 Weeks	Pentavalent-2 OPV-2 RVV-2
14 Weeks	Pentavalent-3 OPV-3 Inactivated polio vaccine (fIPV-2) RVV-3 PCV-2
6 Months	Influenza -1 (IIV-1)	Influenza
7 Months	IIV-2
6 to 9 months	Typhoid conjugate virus	Typhoid
9–12 months	Measles and Rubella MR-1 Japanese Encephalitis (JE-1) PCV booster Hepatitis A vaccine	Measles and rubella Japanese Encephalitis Hepatitis A
16-24 month	MR-2 JE-2 DPT Booster 1 OPV Booster
5 to 6 years	DPT-Booster 2
10 years	Tetanus and adult diphtheria (Td)	Tetanus and diphtheria
16 years	Td

Immunisation/Vaccination Schedule/Chart for Adults

For adults, vaccinations are readily available for common adult diseases like influenza, shingles, HPV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, etc. Some adults also need vaccinations against less common diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, etc.

A vaccination schedule or chart for adults could be:

Tetanus and diphtheria (Td) immunisations at 10-year intervals are lifelong.
Immunisation against human papillomavirus (HPV) for women aged 26 years or younger
All adults over 65 years of age should be vaccinated against pneumococcal disease.
All adults over 50 years of age are recommended to get the influenza vaccine.
Adults in certain high-risk groups are advised to get the Hepatitis B vaccine. These include healthcare workers and public safety workers.

Side effects of vaccines

There may be side effects after taking a vaccine. However, they are usually mild and go away in a day or two.

These include:

Redness or swelling at the injection site.
Low-grade fever.

Conclusion

Vaccines are the reason that the world is rid of smallpox and has a reduced threat of polio, measles, and other diseases. Vaccination is the safest way to protect against certain diseases and prevent serious illnesses. The benefits outweigh any side effects.

Sometimes even mild diseases can become complicated and fatal. That is why vaccines are the best way to be protected from them. Talk to your doctor and keep up-to-date on the vaccination schedule and chart.

Request an appointment at Apollo Cradle, Hyderabad - Jubilee Hills. Call 1860-500-4424 to book an appointment.

1. What would happen if vaccinations were stopped?

If we stopped vaccinating people, diseases would start coming back. All diseases are still active in some parts of the world, and without vaccinations, epidemics will occur.

2. Who cannot get vaccinated?

Certain people with some kind of immune system disease should not take some types of vaccines without consulting their doctor. There are also a few people who don’t respond to a particular vaccine.

3. Why should we get vaccinated against rare diseases?

Many diseases are rare in our country, but they haven’t been eliminated from other parts of the world. If a person from another country brings a disease to your country, all those there who haven’t been vaccinated are at risk of getting that disease.

4. Why are booster shots given?

Booster shots are given as some vaccines require more than one dose to be effective.