Regular vaccination shots are important, but they can leave your child feeling like a pin cushion. Researchers are working on something that could eventually change all of that. Infectious disease experts are working on a one shot immunization cocktail that would contain a mixture of the routine vaccines like mumps, measles, rubella and chicken pox. Pediatricians at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say a number of potentially deadly infectious diseases are largely preventable through routine immunization. The chicken pox vaccine was approved for use in the United States earlier this year.
Early immunization is very important.
Traditionally, vaccines have been distributed through schools, but experts say school age is much too late. A basic series of vaccines are given at age two months, four months and six months. A polio shot should be given when the child is two months old. Hepatitis B is the newest vaccine recommended for children and is given at birth, one or two months and six months. Adults need to keep their tetanus shots current, too.