Immunizations

Parents, here are Six Reasons to follow your child’s vaccine schedule:

1. Timing 

The immunization schedule is carefully designed to provide protection at just the right time. Like all good babyproofing plans, CDC’s recommended immunization schedule is safe and effective at protecting your baby. It’s based on how your child’s immune system responds to vaccines at various ages, and how likely your baby is to be exposed to a particular disease. This ensures your little one is protected from 14 potentially serious diseases at exactly the right time. On the other hand, there is no data to support that spacing out vaccines offers safe or effective protection from these diseases.

2. Prevent Complications

While babies are born with some immunity, they have not yet built up the necessary defenses against the diseases that vaccines prevent. Young babies are at the highest risk of serious disease complications. For example, for you, whooping cough may mean a lingering cough for several weeks, but it can be very serious—even deadly—for babies less than a year old. If you delay vaccinations, your baby could be exposed to diseases like whooping cough when she is most likely to have serious complications.

3. Early Protection

It can take weeks for a vaccine to help your baby make protective disease-fighting antibodies, and some vaccines require multiple doses to provide the best protection. If you wait until you think your child could be exposed to a serious illness – like when he starts daycare or during a disease outbreak – there may not be enough time for the vaccine to work. That’s why the experts who set the schedule pay such careful attention to timing. They have designed it to provide immunity early in life before children are likely to be exposed to life-threatening diseases.

3. Best Protection

Children won’t have the best protection from 14 serious diseases until they get all the recommended doses of each vaccine.

3. Long-Term Protection

Breastfeeding provides important protection from some infections as your baby’s immune system is developing. However, breast milk does not protect children against all diseases.

3. Spreading Illness

Children who are not vaccinated on the schedule are not only at risk of getting sick themselves, but they can also spread illness to others who aren’t protected, like newborns who are too young for vaccines and people with weakened immune systems. By getting your child’s vaccines on time you’re not only protecting your baby — you’re helping to protect your friends, family, and community, too.

Legend

Birth to 15 Months

child vaccine schedule table 1

Vaccine	Birth	1 mo	2 mos	4 mos	6 mos	9 mos	12 mos	15 mos
Hepatitis B  (HepB)	1st dose	2nd dose			←3rd dose→
Rotavirus  (RV) RV1 (2-dose series); RV5 (3-dose series)			1st dose	2nd dose	See notes
Diphtheria, tetanus, & acellular pertussis  (DTaP: <7 yrs)			1st dose	2nd dose	3rd dose			←4th dose→
Haemophilus influenzae type b  (Hib)			1st dose	2nd dose	See notes		←3rd or 4th dose, See notes→
Pneumococcal conjugate  (PCV13)			1st dose	2nd dose	3rd dose		←4th dose→
Inactivated poliovirus  (IPV: <18 yrs)			1st dose	2nd dose	←3rd dose→
Influenza (IIV)					Annual vaccination 1 or 2 doses
Influenza (LAIV)
Measles, mumps, rubella  (MMR)					See notes		←1st dose→
Varicella  (VAR)							←1st dose→
Hepatitis A  (HepA)					See notes		←2-dose series, See notes→
Tetanus, diphtheria, & acellular pertussis  (Tdap: ≥7 yrs)
Human papillomavirus  (HPV)
Meningococcal  (MenACWY-D: ≥9 mos; MenACWY-CRM: ≥2 mos)			See notes
Meningococcal B  (MenB)
Pneumococcal polysaccharide  (PPSV23)

18 Months to 18 Years

child vaccine schedule table 2

Vaccines	18 mos	19-23 mos	2-3 yrs	4-6 yrs	7-10 yrs		11-12 yrs	13-15 yrs	16 yrs	17-18 yrs
Hepatitis B  (HepB)	←3rd dose→
Rotavirus  (RV) RV1 (2-dose series); RV5 (3-dose series)
Diphtheria, tetanus, & acellular pertussis  (DTaP: <7 yrs)	←4th dose→			5th dose
Haemophilus influenzae type b  (Hib)
Pneumococcal conjugate  (PCV13)
Inactivated poliovirus  (IPV: <18 yrs)	←3rd dose→			4th dose
Influenza (IIV)	Annual vaccination 1 or 2 doses					Annual vaccination 1 dose only
Influenza (LAIV)			Annual vaccination 1 or 2 doses			Annual vaccination 1 dose only
Measles, mumps, rubella  (MMR)				2nd dose
Varicella  (VAR)				2nd dose
Hepatitis A  (HepA)	← 2-dose series, See notes→
Tetanus, diphtheria, & acellular pertussis  (Tdap: ≥7 yrs)							Tdap
Human papillomavirus  (HPV)							See notes
						*
Meningococcal  (MenACWY-D: ≥9 mos; MenACWY-CRM: ≥2 mos)	See notes						1st dose		2nd dose
Meningococcal B  (MenB)							See notes
Pneumococcal polysaccharide  (PPSV23)			See notes