Before the introduction of the polio vaccine, an average of 16,316 people in the U.S. contracted polio every year, but in 2008 not a single person living in the U.S. contracted the disease, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. While Jonas Salk didn't introduce the polio vaccine until 1955, the era of vaccination really began in 1796 when Dr. Edward Jenner, an English physician, theorized that cow pox infection protected people from small pox, and that cow pox could be spread from person to person as a way to immunize groups of people against small pox.
Birth to 2 Years Old
Doctors administer a hepatitis B vaccine to infants shortly after birth. A second hepatitis B shot follows a month later.
At 2 months, infants receive rotavirus, diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal conjugate and inactivated poliovirus vaccinations. Doctors use combination vaccines whenever possible to limit the number of shots. Follow-up doses of the two-month vaccines are given at 4 months and again at 6 months, when physicians also include a third hepatitis B vaccine. Beginning at age 6 months, children should also receive a yearly seasonal influenza vaccine. The first time your child receives the influenza vaccine, doctors administer a follow-up dose a month later, but after that only a single annual shot is necessary.
At 12 months, children get haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal conjugate, measles-mumps-rubella, chicken pox and hepatitis A vaccinations. Children get an initial hepatitis A vaccine at 12 months and then another at least six months later. Children can also receive the fourth and final diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine at 12 months, as long as it has been at least six months since the third shot.
2 to 6 Years Old
Starting at age 2, children can receive annual season influenza vaccines as nasal sprays rather than as shots. If your child falls into a high-risk category, your physician may also recommend your child receive additional pneumococcal conjugate and hepatitis A vaccines and a meningococcal conjugate vaccine at age 2. Children in the high-risk category include those who have chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease or certain neurological conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors administer the final inactivated poliovirus, measles-mumps-rubella and chicken pox vaccines at age 4. The final diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine is also administered if children have not already received it.
7 to 18 Years Old
If your child falls into a high-risk category, he may need an initial meningococcal conjugate vaccine between the ages of 7 and 10 years old, followed by another vaccine five years later. High-risk children may also need a pneumococcal vaccine and two hepatitis A vaccines between the ages of 7 and 18 years old.
At 11 years old, many children receive a tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis booster shot. Any child who has not already gotten a meningococcal conjugate vaccine should get one before they reach 12 years old.
Starting at 11 years old girls can begin the three-shot HPV vaccine series. Doctors administer the shots over six months. Boys can begin the series as young as 9 years old. The vaccine protects against viruses that cause genital warts and most types of cervical cancer, according to MayoClinic.com.
