Vaccine Development In The 1980s Hepatitis B And Haemophilus Influenzae Type B
The vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type b was licensed in 1985 and placed on the recommended schedule in 1989. When the schedule was published again in 1994, the hepatitis B vaccine had been added.
The hepatitis B vaccine was not new, as it had been licensed in 1981 and recommended for high-risk groups such as infants whose mothers were hepatitis B surface antigen positive, healthcare workers, intravenous drug users, homosexual men and people with multiple sexual partners. However, immunization of these groups didn’t effectively stop transmission of hepatitis B virus. Thats because about one-third of patients with acute disease were not in identifiable risk groups. The change of recommendation to immunize all infants in 1991 was the result of these failed attempts to control hepatitis B by only immunizing high-risk groups. Following this recommendation, hepatitis B disease was virtually eliminated in children less than 18 years of age in the United States.
1985 – 1994 | Recommended Vaccines
* Given in combination as DTP** Given in combination as MMR
Vaccines For Babies With Medical Conditions
Parents of babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or with medical conditions have a lot to consider when it comes to their babys care. Their lives and treatment are just not as simple as many babies. Thats true when it comes to infant vaccines, but the core truth about immunizations doesnt change for these babies.
We know that vaccines are critically important for all babies, says Theresa Grover, MD, Medical Director of our NICU on Anschutz Medical Campus. There is strong evidence that they prevent routine illness and life-threatening illness, and that is no different for premature babies.
Our Best Advice Talk To Your Doctor About Vaccines
Depending on their underlying medical conditions, there may be some differences between the standard vaccine schedule and whats recommended for your child. Your childs health and safety are of utmost importance to their pediatrician. If you have any questions about vaccines or the schedule, please speak with your childs doctor. They can make a recommendation based on the best-available guidance that keeps your child protected and thriving.
To learn more about how vaccines protect children and communities from preventable illness, please visit Immunize Colorado.
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Newborn Screenings: What To Expect In Hospital Right After Birth
For those of you who are expecting new babies, congratulations! In addition to getting to know your newborn and learning to care for her, there are many things that happen in the hospital after a baby is born that you should be aware of.
It may seem like a lot of poking and prodding around your perfect new baby, but each test is done for a very specific and important reason. All are designed to make sure your baby is healthy and has the best start in life.
You can talk to your babys future health care provider about these topics to learn more.
Immunizations Essential For Your Newborn’s Health
Transcript:
Hi, Im Dr. Emily Bendlin, a pediatrician at Methodist Physicians Clinic Hawthorne Court. I get to work with families, kids and babies every single day.
I recently had my first baby isnt he cute!!!!
When he was delivered at Methodist Womens Hospital a few months ago, right after delivery, I was given the option of three important medications I knew were essential to his health.
Today, I wanted to talk to you about those medications, and just why we here at Methodist recommend that you consider them for your child.
The first is a Vitamin K injection.
All babies are born with very low levels of Vitamin K, which is essential in blood clotting. While babies can produce some Vitamin K, its simply not enough.
Giving newborns injectable Vitamin K at birth immediately gives them enough Vitamin K to prevent their risk of a problem called Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding or VKDB. VKDB is a clotting disorder that causes spontaneous bleeding. It is often internal and can cause brain damage or even death.
A Vitamin K injection at birth will prevent VKDB for six months when they are old enough to eat foods which can provide enough daily Vitamin K to prevent this spontaneous bleeding.
Now, some parents ask about oral Vitamin K medication instead of an injection. There is an oral option, but your baby will need more than one dose. Talk with the hospital and your childs health care provider about options for oral vitamin K.
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Flu Vaccines For Babies And Caregivers
Influenza can be very serious for premature babies and cause hospitalization. Like all vaccines, the flu vaccine is incredibly important for premature babies. But its not the baby who needs to get a shot, at least not immediately. Since babies with medical conditions often have weaker immune systems, its very important that their parents, caregivers and anyone else around them get a flu shot every year to protect them from the flu.
It’s also important for parents and caregivers to take other steps to prevent the spread of the flu, such as washing hands often and avoiding contact with people who are sick.
Babies cant get the flu vaccine until they are 6 months old, but it’s very important for babies with medical conditions to get the flu shot at that time.
Newborns Given Potentially Ineffective Hepatitis B Vaccine At Bankstown
Babies vaccinated for hepatitis B at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital may have been given an ineffective dose, after a fridge used to store the routine vaccines was discovered to be too warm.
The South Western Sydney Local Health District is contacting all mothers who gave birth at the hospital between November 29 and January 22.
Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital is contacting all affected mothers. Credit:SMH
The same hospital was responsible for a catastrophic error in 2016 that led to the death of a baby boy and seriously injured a baby girl when nitrous oxide was given to the two newborns instead of oxygen in a resuscitation unit in June and July.
The hepatitis B vaccine is given to all newborns in line with the national vaccination program and should ideally be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees. Vaccines can be less effective if they are kept at a temperature too warm or too cold. Hepatitis B among babies is rare in Australia.
Six infants have been brought back to the hospital and offered an additional vaccination, the acting director of population health Dr Stephen Conaty said in a statement on Monday evening.
Dr Conaty assured the women affected that the potentially less effective dose is not harmful, but some babies may not have received the early protection against hepatitis B that effective vaccination offers.
A total of 282 women gave birth at the hospital over the period spanning just under two months.
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Premature Infants Of Mothers Who Are Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Negative
The response to hepatitis B vaccine may be diminished in premature infants with birth weight less than 2,000 grams. In jurisdictions where the first dose of HB vaccine is routinely given at birth, routine HB immunization of infants should be delayed until the infant reaches 2,000 grams or upon hospital discharge if discharge occurs before the infant has reached 2,000 grams.
Hepatitis B Vaccine In Babies
Normally, babies get a hepatitis B vaccine within the first 12 hours after birth. However, pre-term babies with low birth weight whose moms test negative for hepatitis B can instead receive their hepatitis B vaccine when theyre one month old or upon hospital discharge. Pre-term babies whose moms have a positive or unknown hepatitis B infection should receive a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine at birth regardless of birth weight to prevent infection.
If you have any questions about infant vaccines while youre in the NICU, ask your care team or ask to talk to the NICUs pharmacist.
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Community Immunity And Disease Prevention
The more people who are vaccinated in the community, the lower the risk of infection for those who:
- aren’t vaccinated
- developed only partial immunity from the vaccine
This means that when your child is vaccinated, you protect them as well as those around them.
Community immunity helps protect those at high risk of developing disease and severe complications or death, such as:
- adults 65 years of age and older
- infants and children too young to be vaccinated
- people with health conditions that affect their immune system, such as those undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer
What Do You Suggest Expecting Parents Do If Family Members Are Hesitantor Outright Refuseto Get Vaccinated
I personally take a strong stanceif a family member is not willing to get vaccinated, I dont let them near my children until my kids have been adequately vaccinated and are a bit older .
The issue of vaccines should be brought up the same way that an expecting parent speaks to family members about other illnesses.
Just as you would ask them to wash their hands, check themselves for signs/symptoms of illness , anyone wanting to be close to a newborn should be willing to vaccinate themselves against infections that could seriously harm the baby.
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Vaccines Given At Two Months
Hepatitis B Vaccine is given to your baby for the second time during the two month check-up.
DTaP Vaccine protects your baby from three life-threatening, toxin-releasing bacterial diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis . Often found in unsanitary conditions or from improper wound care, tetanus is a severe disease of the nerves that can cause the jaw to lock. Diphtheria affects breathing and the throat in small children and may cause nerve, heart, and kidney damage. Pertussis is a highly contagious disease that mostly affects babies under six months and causes coughing spells that can become severe and potentially deadly. Getting the vaccine between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy is also a great way to help prevent your infant from contracting pertussis.
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IPV, or Inactivated Polio Vaccine, protects your baby from polio, a contagious, debilitating, and potentially deadly disease. This viral respiratory disease can cause anywhere from flu-like symptoms to neurological disease, severe debilitating paralysis, and death. Babies with polio may never recover from nerve damage that can leave limbs completely paralyzed for life. IPV is nearly 99 percent effective, according to the CDC.
PCV13 Vaccine protects your baby from pneumococcal disease, which may cause pneumonia, infections of the blood, and bacterial meningitis. PCV13 spreads through contact with others, so by getting your baby the vaccine you protect other children, as well.
Is Your Baby Protected From Vaccine
Your baby will be given a handful of vaccines and supplements in the first months of life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the carefully-planned childhood vaccine schedule. Following the schedule in the coming months and years will put your infant on track for life-long immunity to dangerous diseases.
The vaccines recommended for your young baby are closely monitored by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration for safety and effectiveness. Here are the vaccines that your baby will receive from birth through two months.
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Annual Updates To The Immunization Schedule 1995 To 2010
As more vaccines became available, an annual update to the schedule was important because of changes that providers needed to know, such as detailed information about who should receive each vaccine, age of receipt, number of doses, time between doses, or use of combination vaccines. New vaccines were also added.
Important changes to the schedule between 1995 and 2010 included:
- New vaccines: Varicella , rotavirus hepatitis A pneumococcal vaccine
- Additional recommendations for existing vaccines: influenza hepatitis A
- New versions of existing vaccines: acellular pertussis vaccine intranasal influenza
- Discontinuation of vaccine: Oral polio vaccine
2000 | Recommended Vaccines
* Given in combination as DTaP** Given in combination as MMR
Medical Care And Your 1
During these early months, you might have many questions about your baby’s health. Most doctors have phone hours when parents can call with routine questions. Don’t hesitate to call with your concerns, no matter how minor they might seem.
Of course, if you think your baby could have an illness, don’t wait for phone hours call your doctor right away. As in the newborn period, illness at this age needs immediate attention.
How often you see the doctor in the first 2 months will depend on your baby’s health, but most infants are seen at 1 month and again at 2 months for routine care.
Babies are checked for growth, development, and feeding, among other things. These regular checkups also let your doctor follow up on any concerns from earlier checkups and are a chance for you to ask questions.
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Why We Need Vaccines
Vaccines have successfully lowered the rates of disease in countries with strong vaccination programs.
Some of the diseases that vaccines prevent have no treatment or cure. These diseases can cause:
- severe illness
- disability
Even with improved living conditions and modern hygiene, vaccines are still very important to prevent infections that could make your child very sick.
Some diseases are now rarely seen in Canada because of long-term high rates of vaccination in the population, including:
However, these diseases still exist in some countries, so people who live in them or travel to them may become infected. They can introduce and spread these diseases when they return to Canada. High rates of vaccination against these diseases help to prevent further spread and outbreaks.
The best way to protect your children’s health is to prevent these diseases in the first place by keeping their vaccinations up to date. Some examples include:
Measles
Measles is still a leading cause of death in children worldwide, with 89,780 cases in 2016. One person with measles can infect 12 to 18 people who haven’t had the vaccine.
Measles is a very contagious disease. You can catch it by walking into a room that an infected person sneezed in an hour before you entered.
Newborn Tests & Vaccinations
Your babys first checkup begins in the hospital, when we check for any health concerns. These screenings can discover health conditions soon after birth and can help save a babys life or prevent serious problems.
Physical Exam
Within 24 hours of birth, your baby will have a physical exam that checks his or her appearance and bodily functions. Vital signs, such as babys temperature, pulse and breathing rate, will be taken, and any signs of illness or birth defects will be investigated.
Blood Sugar Screening
If your child is at risk for low blood sugar, blood is obtained from a prick to the heel and is monitored for up to 24 hours, in most cases.
Jaundice Screening
Jaundice is when a baby has a high level of bilirubin in the blood. Levels of bilirubin are measured through a non-invasive, painless test.
If your newborn has a high reading, the reading will be confirmed with a blood test.
For most babies, jaundice does not require treatment and will disappear within 1 to 2 weeks.
New York State Newborn Screening
New York State requires that newborns are tested for over 30 congenital conditions, including Krabbe disease, cystic fibrosis, and HIV. The test is performed using just five drops of blood that are obtained from pricking the babys heel.
The sample is obtained prior to babys discharge, and your test results will be sent to your physician.
Hearing Screening
A painless and comfortable hearing test is performed to check that your baby is able to hear sound
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Which Vaccines Do You Recommend During Pregnancy
I recommend two vaccines for pregnant parents: The first is the flu vaccine, and the second is pertussis .
The flu vaccine should be given to expecting parents as soon possible .
The antibodies generated by the flu shot will also circulate to the baby during pregnancy and protect the baby in early life. This is really important since the baby cant get the flu shot before they are 6 months old, and we dont have very effective treatments to care for those babies who become very ill with the flu.
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Do You Recommend These Same Vaccines For Grandparents And Other Family Members Who Will Be In Close Contact With The Newborn
I do. All close contacts to the newborn should be vaccinated with the annual influenza vaccine at least 2 weeks before meeting the baby.
They should also have had Tdap in the last 10 years. If they have not received that vaccine, they should get a Tdap booster at least 2 weeks before meeting the baby.
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Immunization Of The Infant In The Hospital
Edward F. Bell, MDPeer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed