What do newborns get vaccinated against in the shoulder? This question is of interest to mothers who have their first child. The shoulder shot is called BCG. It protects against various forms of tuberculosis. If the mother decides to refuse to do this vaccination, she must understand the consequences. Then the child can get tuberculosis. It is worth taking a closer look at why young children are vaccinated in the shoulder.
When is it made?
What kind of vaccination is given in the shoulder at the maternity hospital and when? BCG vaccination is done in the maternity hospital on the 4-6th day of the child's life. At this age, it is done to children whose weight is not less than 2500 grams. There is also a BCG-M vaccine - this vaccine contains half the antigen. BCG-M is given to children who have contraindications to BCG vaccination. For example, premature babies weighing more than 2 kg, children with an affected central nervous system, as well as those babies who were not vaccinated in the shoulder at the maternity hospital.
To whom shecontraindicated?
Categorically it is impossible to vaccinate children with congenital or acquired immunodeficiency caused by HIV infection; complications after revaccination in brothers or sisters of the child. They also do not vaccinate babies who have had tuberculosis.
How is it made?
Parents who know what a shoulder shot is from should also familiarize themselves with the technique of its implementation. Before giving an injection, it is diluted with a special saline solution that is attached to the vaccine. To vaccinate, use a special tuberculin syringe. The vaccine is administered intradermally into the left shoulder. A month and a half after vaccination, a spot appears on the spot, then an infiltrate, that is, the tissue area increases in volume and becomes dense, with a diameter of no more than 5-10 mm. Then a bubble is formed - an abscess, it should be no more than a centimeter in size. The contents of the bubble are transparent or slightly cloudy, then a crust will appear.
Vaccination scar on shoulder
After 5-6 months, the baby develops a scar 3-10 mm long. The scar speaks of a vaccination and the development of a specific defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the body. The place where they were vaccinated should not be touched, smeared with antiseptics, bandages should be applied. Even if the bubble has opened, it still should not be touched in any case, after a while it will dry out and a crust will form.
TB Doctor
If the wound is very large (more than 10 mm), the shoulder hurts after vaccination, or a bubble has not formed at the vaccination site, you should contact a phthisiatrician. A phthisiatrician is a doctor who diagnoses, prescribes treatment or prevention of tuberculosis. If the child was not vaccinated for some reason in the maternity hospital in 4-6 days, then it is necessary to vaccinate him after the removal of contraindications. If you need to make BCG for a child older than 2 months, first they do a Mantoux test. If the Mantoux test is negative, then the child can do BCG, but not earlier than 2 weeks after Mantoux. Also, parents should not forget that if the child was brought home from the maternity hospital, he should not be in contact with people who have not undergone fluorography.
Revaccination
After you know what the vaccine in the shoulder (left) is from, you should find out what revaccination is. Re-vaccination is done at the age of over 6 years. In order to consolidate the result and to develop a strong immunity to tuberculosis pathogens. Before re-vaccination, the child is given a trial vaccination with Mantoux. The Mantoux test is a test for developing immunity to tuberculosis. This is the safest way to diagnose, at least safer than a lung x-ray. If the test is positive, then there will be swelling, redness and induration at the grafting site with a diameter of 10 mm. This means that the child's body had contact with the causative agent of tuberculosis, but this is not an indicator that the child is sick. If there is such a reaction, then the child should be undersupervision of a pediatric pulmonologist and pediatrician. The time between Mantoux and BCG vaccinations ranges from 3 to 14 days.
Vaccination at birth in the shoulder is contraindicated for babies who were born with some complications, it can be intrauterine infection, primary immunodeficiency and HIV in the mother and other serious diseases. Whether to be vaccinated at the maternity hospital or later, the mother should decide, and if there are any contraindications, she should be told about this by a pediatric neonatologist who examines the child in the first minutes of his life.
BCG re-vaccination (at 6-7 years old) can be postponed if the child has allergies, immunodeficiency, cancer or other acute diseases. If at the first vaccination the Mantoux reaction was positive, then re-vaccination is done with extreme caution. In a he althy child, complications after BCG do not appear. But do not forget that any medical drug can give an unexpected reaction when exposed to a single organism, that is, this can happen individually. Sometimes it is difficult to diagnose some diseases in a child before a vaccine, and then the vaccination done turns into undesirable consequences for the child. And it turns out that the child was vaccinated when the child was sick, but no one knew about it.
Possible Complications
In such cases, there may be the following complications:
- Fever - it can be 38-38, 5 ° C, then you need to give the baby an antipyretic, and if on the second day there is a temperature again,you need to call a doctor. Such a reaction can be in a child with a weak body, his immune system is not strong enough.
- A runny nose, cough or redness of the throat - such a reaction can also occur due to weak immunity. All this is treated, and the child does not need to be hospitalized.
- On the first evening after vaccination, the child may experience fatigue, loss of appetite, the child may be capricious. If there is such a reaction, you need to calm the child, do not stuff him with food, provide him with peace and, if possible, put him to bed earlier. These symptoms usually go away after a maximum of 3 days.
- If the vaccination site becomes inflamed or begins to fester over time, you should immediately consult a doctor.
All these symptoms are not serious and do not threaten the he alth and life of the baby.
Other reactions to vaccination
There can also be very serious reactions to the vaccine, they are rare but do happen:
- Lymphadenitis is called inflammation of the lymph nodes, which is accompanied by an increase in glands, and sometimes suppuration. If the lymph nodes are festering, they should only be removed surgically, so with such reactions the child needs to be hospitalized.
- Severe suppuration has formed in the injection area, which affects the skin around it. Such a reaction is possible in a child with immunodeficiency, and the observation of a surgeon and conservative treatment is required.
- Cold abscess may also develop. The reason is an incorrectly made vaccination, that is, the injection was made not subcutaneously, but intramuscularly. Shown 3-4 weeks after vaccination. After such a period of time, the wound begins to break through. To prevent such complications, it is necessary to vaccinate in the office where experienced specialists vaccinate.
- Osteomyelitis is a bone disease that develops a few months after the manipulation. The reason may be a poor-quality vaccine. Therefore, doctors recommend getting vaccinated only in medical institutions and not buying them from anyone or anywhere.
- If the injection was done incorrectly, that is, not intramuscularly, but subcutaneously, a keloid scar forms twelve months after vaccination.
- An ulcer appears at the puncture site - this indicates the sensitivity of the child's body to the components of the BCG vaccine. An ulcer is dangerous by introducing an infection, therefore, supervision by a surgeon is required. This happens very rarely, but it does happen.
From all this we can conclude that the BCG vaccination has serious consequences for the baby, but only if contraindications were ignored, a low-quality vaccine was introduced, or the manipulation was performed incorrectly. If everything is done correctly, then the BCG vaccine is the only real way to protect the child from tuberculosis.
