The Importance of Vaccines in Children’s Development and the Complete Vaccination Schedule by Age

This June 1 marks Children’s Day, a date that seeks to raise awareness in society about the importance of providing healthy and safe development to infants from birth.

One of the ways to fulfill this responsibility of society is to guarantee adequate access to the health system, where vaccines are a fundamental tool to reduce infant mortality rates.

According to data from Unicef, vaccines are the main defense to protect the health of children in their development stage. The correct inoculation saves the lives of 3 million children each year. However, not following the proper scheme has caused nearly 1.5 million children to die annually from diseases such as diphtheria, measles, tetanus, whooping cough, diarrhea or pneumonia.

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Medical specialists such as the pediatrician, Saskia Morales, from the Hospital de los Valles, maintain that vaccines are essential in the early stage of children’s lives, since they stimulate their immune system to protect them from easily transmitted and deadly diseases.

In the current context, the Ministry of Health is carrying out a vaccination campaign throughout Ecuador, focused on combating polio and measles. This initiative has generated questions among parents, who question whether it is necessary to administer these vaccines to their children despite having received the corresponding doses.

Importance of a complete vaccine schedule

Given this situation, Dr. Morales recommends following the indications of the vaccination program and completing all the necessary doses, even if the child has received previous vaccinations. This will ensure optimal protection against these diseases and help prevent their recurrence.

It is important to take into account that the public health system does not fully cover the vaccine scheme, for example, Hepatitis A and meningococcus must be administered in a particular way. Therefore, the doctor emphasizes that it is necessary to schedule regular consultations with the pediatrician to ensure that the immunization process is properly followed.

The specialist emphasizes that the lack of vaccines has caused the reappearance of diseases that were previously eradicated, such as measles. For this reason, she describes vaccination as the first preventive measure to guarantee good health in children.

Vaccination scheme according to age:

From 0 to 1 month

• Vaccine against tuberculosis (BCG)
• Hepatitis B first dose within the first 24 hours of the child’s birth

From 2 months to 4 months

• Hepatitis B second dose at 2 months
• Diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine, first dose at 2 months, second dose at 4 months.
• Vaccine against Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) first dose at 2 months, second dose at 4 months.
• Polio vaccine (Polio) first dose at 2 months, second dose at 4 months.
• Pneumococcal vaccine (PCV) first dose at 2 months, second dose at 4 months.
• Rotavirus vaccine, first dose at 2 months, second dose at 4 months.

From 5 months to 6 months

• Hepatitis B third dose from 6 months
• Diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine, third dose
• Vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) third dose
• Polio vaccine (Polio) third dose from 6 months to 18 months.
• Pneumococcal vaccine (PCV) third dose at 6 months
• Vaccine against rotavirus third dose at 6 months
• Influenza from 6 months and annually