Modern parents, when compared with previous generations, have many advantages in terms of raising children. With the advent of the baby, his mother and father plunge into a new, previously unknown children's world: toys, all kinds of children's household items, care products, various methods for development, training … With the advent of the Internet and social networks, parental horizons have expanded significantly, it became possible to search for the most suitable specific child conditions for his he althy development and interesting leisure.
Specifically, in this article we will talk about a topic where many copies have been broken, about vaccine prevention and the vaccination schedule for children. A lot of material is devoted to her in information sources, sometimes contradictory or completely false, multiplying the burden of parental responsibility for the he alth of their baby. Should my child be vaccinated or not? This question often begins to worry even before birth, acquiring various rumors and conjectures along the way, often leading to a dead end. We will try to analyze in detailthis problem.
Vaccination of children and vaccination calendar
Vaccination (immunization, inoculation) is the creation of artificial immunity against pathogens of the most common dangerous infectious and viral diseases (diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, mumps, whooping cough, tetanus, pneumonia, meningitis, hepatitis B, influenza, etc..). Vaccination can be considered a real breakthrough in medicine in the field of he alth protection, especially for children. Diseases, which until the middle of the last century very often became a sentence for a small child, today either completely disappeared or proceed without complications in vaccinated children. Vaccination is carried out in accordance with the preventive vaccination schedule for children. Be sure to take into account the individual characteristics of the body of each baby.
The calendar of mandatory vaccinations for children in Russia can be conditionally divided into two parts:
1. Vaccination against the most common infectious and viral diseases in the human population, characterized by a particularly severe course with frequent complications (influenza, diphtheria, whooping cough, mumps, measles, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, tetanus, etc.).
2. Vaccination according to epidemic indications: zoonotic infections (anthrax, brucellosis, etc.), natural focal infections (leptospirosis, tick-borne encephalitis, etc.), vaccinations for people at risk of infection (cholera, typhoid fever, hemophilic infection, hepatitis A).
Vaccination conditions for children
Vaccinations are a responsible and important step for parents inin order to protect the he alth of your child, therefore, it must be approached seriously, taking into account all the individual characteristics of the development of the baby. The most authoritative source in terms of vaccinations is the vaccination schedule for children. It was compiled by WHO, taking into account the development and age of an average he althy child, but this does not mean that all its terms and conditions must be strictly observed, not paying attention to the condition of the vaccinated.
A few simple rules will help parents find the best option for successful vaccination of children:
1. At the time of the introduction of the vaccine, the child must be perfectly he althy. Any, even a minor ailment, can be aggravated if you get vaccinated against its background. The immune system should not be overwhelmed, because the development of the body's resistance to vaccinated infections requires a lot of resources from it. Fever, runny nose, cough, lethargy, constipation, diarrhea, any hint of overt or latent malaise should be regarded as a serious reason not to be vaccinated until recovery. It is recommended to take blood and urine tests before vaccination to rule out latent infection.
2. It is necessary to limit the contact of the baby with strangers during vaccination. At this time, you should not go to visit, attend a clinic, crowded events, it is also better to avoid situations that can weaken the body: swimming in ponds and pools, prolonged exposure to the sun, walking in severe frost.
3. It is necessary to postpone the vaccination if the child first had or worsened an allergy. You should wait for remission, follow all the recommendations of the attendingdoctor.
4. It is better to unload the baby's intestines on the days of vaccination. To do this, you need to limit the child's nutrition the day before vaccination and follow this diet for 2-3 days. You should not overfeed at this time, introduce new foods into the diet, and on the day the vaccine is administered, it is better to go to it with an empty stomach. It is advisable to feed the child no earlier than an hour after vaccination. When the body does not need to be distracted by the digestion of large amounts of food, it tolerates the introduction of the vaccine more easily and quickly.
5. No drugs, including antihistamines, have any effect on the body's response to the vaccine.
6. Vaccination should not be carried out during heat, severe frosts or raging epidemics. They can aggravate the course of the post-vaccination period. It is better to wait for a more calm and stable period.
7. After vaccination, you should not leave the walls of the clinic for at least 30 minutes. Rare possible strong reactions to vaccine components usually develop in the first half hour to an hour after vaccination, so it is better not to stray far from the treatment room, which has all the necessary drugs for first aid.
8. The first three days after vaccination, you should closely monitor the condition of the baby.
National vaccination calendar for children in Russia
The Russian vaccination calendar includes a list of 12 vaccines used against the most common dangerous diseases in the country. The last change in it was made in 2015, when the vaccine againstpneumococcal infection.
For children under 1 year old, the vaccination schedule is the most saturated. All other vaccinations are mainly given to children by the age of 1.5-2 years, but the terms may be different, depending on the individual characteristics of the child's he alth. In addition, revaccinations are provided for children under 14 years of age in the vaccination schedule. They are a repeat of vaccinations already done.
Let's take a closer look at the vaccination calendar for children under 3 years old, developed by WHO for Russia.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (consumption) is a common infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, predominantly affecting the lungs. The bacterium is infected, according to WHO, about 2 billion people, in 2013, 80,000 children died out of 550,000 infected with tuberculosis. In the absence or untimely treatment, it takes the lives of 2/3 of the sick. In one year, a patient is able to infect 10-15 people from a close environment, children and people with immunodeficiency are most susceptible to this.
The vaccine designed to fight the most severe forms of tuberculosis in babies (tuberculous meningitis, as well as disseminated tuberculosis) is BCG. It cannot prevent the primary infection with tuberculosis, as well as the reactivation of the latent form of tuberculosis, but it prevents the development of its most lethal forms for children.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B (HVB) is a viral infection that causes severe liver damage, provokes the development of cirrhosis andliver cancer. The virus is stable in environmental conditions, able to survive up to 7 days outside the body, transmitted from a sick person with blood and other biological fluids. More than 350 million people are sick worldwide, and 780,000 people die of hepatitis B every year.
Thanks to vaccination, 95% of children develop immunity that can protect their body from the hepatitis B virus for about 20 years, and many remain resistant to it for life. In Russia, DTP-HEP B vaccines are used, as well as the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, Infanrix GEXA, Bubo-M and others.
Whooping cough
Whooping cough is a common infectious disease, especially among young children. It is accompanied by a characteristic convulsive cough, up to respiratory arrest. Often complicated by pneumonia, convulsions, encephalopathy. Prior to the era of vaccination, it was considered one of the main causes of infant mortality. If the number of vaccinated babies drops to 30%, the incidence increases to the previous values (the death rate is about 687 thousand people a year).
Vaccinated children acquire a stable immunity to whooping cough, upon contact with the infection, the disease either does not develop or proceeds in a mild form. The pertussis vaccine is usually combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids. It should be noted that the pertussis component in vaccines is in whole-cell (DTP, Bubo-M, Bubo-Kok, etc.) and acellular form (Pentaxim, Infanrix, Tetraxim, etc.). Whole cell vaccinesthe pertussis component causes post-vaccination reactions in children more often than with the acellular component. For children with a weakened immune system and poor tolerance of pertussis vaccines, the ADS-M vaccine is provided (it contains diphtheria and tetanus toxoids, without a pertussis component), but then the child remains susceptible to this disease.
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by Loeffler's bacillus that affects the oropharynx, bronchi, skin, and can affect other organs. It is dangerous because the diphtheria bacillus secretes a very poisonous toxin that affects the cardiovascular, nervous and excretory systems. In addition, the disease can, if the oropharynx is affected, provoke croup, often ending in death from suffocation. Ways of infection with diphtheria: airborne, contact-household.
Diphtheria throughout history has been the leading cause of child mortality, with a death rate of 50-60%. With the advent of antitoxic serum and vaccine, diphtheria has practically lost its sinister role: now it occurs in 0.01 cases per 100,000 population in Russia.
The national vaccination calendar for children under one year old and older to protect against diphtheria offers combined vaccines DTP, Bubo-Kok, Bubo-M, Infanrix, Tetraxim, Pentaxim, and others; toxoids AD-M, ADS-M, ADS.
Tetanus
Tetanus is a severe acute infectious disease provoked by infection of wounds, burns, frostbiteany violations of the integrity of the skin by strains of the bacillus Clostridium tetani. The disease provokes convulsive contractions of the muscles of the whole body, bending them in the most unusual forms, convulsions can last continuously, causing numerous complications against their background: sepsis, pneumonia, myocardial infarction, fractures of bones, spine, ruptures of muscles, tendons, thrombosis, etc.
The death rate from tetanus is very high, slightly less than from rabies and pneumonic plague, because due to frequent serious complications it is difficult to treat. Tetanus is easier to prevent than to treat, so the vaccination schedule for children from the age of three months recommends DTP, ATP, ADS-M, Bubo-KOK, Bubo-M, Pentaxim, Tetraxim, Infanrix vaccines.
Pneumococcal disease
Infectious diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (70% of pneumonia, 25% of otitis media, about 5-15% of meningitis, 3% of endocarditis, etc.) have a high mortality rate for children under 5 years of age (up to 40%) and represent a serious problem in the he alth care of the world community. It is considered the most dangerous of infections that can be prevented by vaccination. The route of transmission is airborne.
In Russia, since 2015, the vaccination schedule for children under 1 year old offers the vaccines "Prevenar-13", "Synflorix", for children from 2 years old "Pneumo-23".
Measles
Measles is a serious infectious disease with a high (up to10 0%) contagiousness and high mortality among children (before the invention of vaccines, measles was called infantile plague). It is characterized by catarrhal phenomena, rash and complications in the form of pneumonia, cerebral edema, severe diarrhea and dehydration, otitis media. It is transmitted most often by airborne droplets, as well as by household contact.
The vaccination calendar for children under one year of age recommends vaccines registered in Russia: this is the orean cultural live vaccine, the mumps-measles cultural live vaccine (divaccine), Priorix, M-M-R II MMR II (live).
Mumps
Mumps (mumps) is an acute infectious disease that affects the glandular organs (pancreas, ovaries and testicles, salivary glands) and the central nervous system. The way of infection with parotitis is airborne.
The disease is dangerous for its complications: infertility, cerebral edema, encephalitis, hearing loss. Despite very low mortality, could pose significant he alth problems in the future.
In the vaccination schedule for children under 1 year old, mumps cultural live vaccine, mumps-measles divaccine and mumps-measles rubella trivaccine are offered for the prevention of mumps.
Rubella
Rubella is an infectious viral disease characterized by a mild course in children and adults, but causing severe fetal pathologies during pregnancy, up to miscarriage or stillbirth. Transmitted by airborne droplets.
Rubella vaccination is especially important for girls and women because it is designed toprotect their unborn baby during pregnancy. Vaccinations included in the vaccination schedule up to 1 year: MMR (measles-mumps-rubella), Priorix.
Polio
Polio is a severe viral disease that damages the human nervous system and can lead to paralysis in the shortest possible time. With paralysis of the respiratory muscles, death occurs. The route of transmission is usually fecal-oral or contact-household.
The Russian mandatory vaccination calendar for children since 2016 recommends inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is administered both as a single-component vaccine and as part of the combined vaccines Pentaxim, Tetraxim, Infanrix Hexa, Infanrix Penta.
The above list includes diseases that are currently included in the National Immunization Schedule of Russia as mandatory for vaccination. Due to the wide coverage of the population by vaccination, the severe consequences and high mortality from these diseases among children are minimized. At the request of parents, medical institutions can vaccinate babies against infections such as rotovirus, meningococcal infection, influenza, hepatitis A, hemophilic infection, etc. It is possible that the national calendar will eventually be replenished with vaccines against some of these infections.
