science

Vaccination schedule

Vaccination schedule is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vaccination schedule rather than just read about it. In short: A vaccination schedule is a series of vaccinations, including the timing of all doses, which may be either recommended or compulsory, depending on the country of residence. A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to produce active immunity to a disease, in order to prevent or reduce the effects of infection by any natural or "wild" pathogen.

Key takeaways

Vaccination schedule belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vaccination schedule to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vaccination schedule from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A vaccination schedule is a series of vaccinations, including the timing of all doses, which may be either recommended or compulsory, depending on the country of residence. A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to produce active immunity to a disease, in order to prevent or reduce the effects of infection by any natural or "wild" pathogen. Vaccines go through multiple phases of trials to ensure safety and effectiveness. World Health Organization-guided childhood vaccine schedules protect against 30 infectious diseases, and following them is crucial to prevent risks to children and the community, having saved over 154 million lives in the past 50 years. Many vaccines require multiple doses for maximum effectiveness, either to produce sufficient initial immune response or to boost response that fades over time. For example, tetanus vaccine boosters are often recommended every 10 years. Vaccine schedules are developed by governmental agencies or physicians groups to achieve maximum effectiveness using required and recommended vaccines for a locality while minimizing the number of health care system interactions. Over the past two decades, the recommended vaccination schedule has grown rapidly and become more complicated as many new vaccines have been developed. Some vaccines are recommended only in certain areas (countries, sub national areas, or at-risk populations) where a disease is common. For instance, yellow fever vaccination is on the routine vaccine schedule of French Guiana, is recommended in certain regions of Brazil but in the United States is only given to travelers heading to countries with a history of the disease. In developing countries, vaccine recommendations also take into account the level of health care access, the cost of vaccines and issues with vaccine availability and storage. Sample vaccination schedules discussed by the World Health Organization show a developed country using a schedule which extends over the first five years of a child's life and uses vaccines which cost over $700 including administration costs while a developing country uses a schedule providing vaccines in the first 9 months of life and costing only $25. This difference is due to the lower cost of health care, the lower cost of many vaccines provided to developing nations, and that more expensive vaccines, often for less common diseases, are not utilized.

Worldwide Childhood vaccine schedules, guided by World Health Organization and developed by global experts, protect against 30 infectious diseases. Following the recommended schedule is crucial, as delays or changes increase risk for children and the community. The World Health Organization monitors vaccination schedules across the world, noting what vaccines are included in each country's program, the coverage rates achieved and various auditing measures. The table below shows the types of vaccines given in example countries. The WHO publishes on its website current vaccination schedules for all WHO member states. Additional vaccines are given to individuals more likely to come into contact with specific diseases through work or travel (e.g. military), or after potentially infectious exposure. Examples include rabies, anthrax, cholera and smallpox.

By country

Australia The Immunise Australia Program implements the National Immunization Program (NIP) Schedule. All vaccines available under the Australian immunization schedule are free of charge under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Austria Austrian vaccine recommendations are developed by the National Vaccination Board (German: Nationales Impfgremium), which is part of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection. Children aged 14 and older can be vaccinated without parental consent.

Brazil All recommended vaccines are provide free of charge by the public health services.

Canada In Canada, publicly funded immunization schedules may vary from province or territory.

Alberta

British Columbia

New Brunswick

Ontario

Quebec

Finland

History 1960: Mumps vaccinations for military recruits. 1975: Measles vaccination for 1 year old children. 1975: Rubella vaccination for 11–13 years old girls and seronegative mothers. 1982: Two doses of MMR vaccination at 14–18 months and 6 years of age were introduced in the national childhood vaccination programme. 2009: Rotavirus vaccine introduced at 2, 3 and 5 months to all children (September 2009) 2010: PCV introduced at 3, 5 and 12 months of age to all children (September 2010). 2013: HPV vaccination of girls introduced 2017: Varicella vaccination introduced (1 September 2017) at 18 months, 6 years + catch-up of all born from 1 January 2006 or after with no history of varicella. 2020: HPV vaccination of boys introduced

France

Germany In Germany, a vaccination schedule is developed by the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO), which operates as part of the Robert Koch Institute. The recommendations are generally adopted by the Federal Joint Committee.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, Department of Health is responsible for providing free vaccinations from newborns up to primary school students.

India In India, the standard vaccination schedule is recommended by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics(IAP). The latest schedule was the one given in 2016.

Italy

Japan The vaccination schedule in Japan is defined and partially recommended by Immunization Act (Japanese: 予防接種法) and its related cabinet order (Japanese: 予防接種法施行令). By the combined laws, infections are categorized into two groups: Category A is recommended for vaccination to prevent pandemic whereas Category B is only for a personal care purpose. As of January 2020, fourteen infections are Category A diseases and two are Category B on the legal lists. The Act and the Order were enacted for mandatory vaccination in 1948 with punitive clauses, only the clauses were repealed in 1976 and eventually vaccination has become non-mandatory since 1994.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vaccination schedule

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vaccination schedule claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vaccination schedule before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vaccination schedule ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vaccination schedule

In research: Vaccination schedule appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vaccination schedule in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vaccination schedule is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Vaccination, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vaccination schedule outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vaccination schedule in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vaccination schedule means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vaccination schedule out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vaccination schedule in simple terms?

Why does Vaccination schedule matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vaccination schedule?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vaccination schedule.