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Man has come a long way in understanding diseases and ways to prevent them. Gone are the times when the most common cause of death was illness and infection. We now know the functioning of the immune system and the value of vaccinations in aiding and developing a strong immunity against diseases. We have developed vaccinations for a huge variety of infections and everyday, more are being tested. However, developing them alone is of no value. They have to reach the larger population to be successful in controlling the spread of disease. In such situations, having a vaccination schedule for countries and people to follow is extremely helpful. A vaccination schedule is simply a series of vaccinations, dosage and timings suggested by physicians or a health regulatory body (like the CDC) to be taken over a period of time. Some vaccinations are country specific depending on the prevalence of the disease. For example, the Yellow Fever vaccination is not on the vaccination schedule in the US but is required to be taken by travellers going to countries in the African continent. Vaccination schedules also differ for different countries. Since health facilities and vaccination costs can be expensive, it is not
feasible to have the same vaccination schedule for all countries. Countries like the US have a schedule that is administered over the first 5 years of a child's life and can cost up to $700. However in developing countries, the vaccination schedule is for the first 9 months, at a cost of about $25, excluding some of the more expensive vaccinations for rare diseases. Initially in the 1950's there were only a few vaccinations to be taken by children, for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and smallpox. In the 1980's vaccinations were required for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, smallpox as well as polio, rubella, measles and mumps. However, since then, several more have been added to the list, including hepatitis B, pneumococcal vaccine, varicella vaccine, etc. Owing to this ever increasing list, vaccination schedules have become more complicated than before. In the US, the vaccination schedules for children are given by many agencies including the CDC. This schedule is for 0-6 years of age and recommends some of the following vaccines: Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis (TDP) vaccine, Hepatitis A and B, Influenza vaccine, Measles - Mumps - Rubella (MMR), Polio, Varicella (chicken pox) vaccine, Meningococcus vaccine etc. Owing to the advancements in science and the development of new vaccines, the number of shots that children have to take as part of the vaccination schedule is increasing every few years. However, scientists are working on combining more of the vaccines together to bring down the number of shots that the children have to take and yet remain protected against illness and infection. Childhood Vaccination
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