Vaccination helps protect children from dangerous infectious diseases, however, so that vaccinations do not affect the child's health, it is important to consider that they are contraindicated for some children. Why is vaccination sometimes delayed or canceled altogether? And can the presence of a runny nose or cough prevent the administration of the vaccine?
True contraindications
The true contraindications include conditions in which, taking into account the health of the child, vaccination cannot be carried out.
All true contraindications can be divided into general, which relate to any vaccination, as well as private, characteristic of a particular vaccination.
They can also be permanent, due to which the vaccination is completely canceled, as well as temporary, which prevent the vaccination from being given only for a certain period.
False contraindications
This group of contraindications includes subjective reasons not to be vaccinated. They come from both the parents and the medical staff. For example, parents may refuse to administer the vaccine if they consider their baby to be painful or allergic, and doctors may not send for a vaccination if they have a cold or dysbiosis.
The false contraindications that are most often the reason for the "medical withdrawal" from vaccinations include allergies, anemia and encephalopathy. In many cases, they are not a reason for canceling vaccination.
When should you not get vaccinated?
Contraindications to the introduction of any vaccines are:
- Immunodeficiency primary conditions.
- Oncopathology.
- Immunosuppressive therapy.
- Acute diseases.
- Exacerbation of chronic pathologies.
- Severe reactions or complications after the previous administration of the vaccine - anaphylactic shock and other severe forms of allergy, temperature rise over 40 degrees, local changes with a diameter of more than 8 cm, damage to the immune system, the appearance of vaccine-associated diseases.
As for private contraindications, among them are the following:
When can the vaccine be given despite adverse symptoms?
- The presence of mild diarrhea, a moderate or mild reaction to a previous vaccine administration, acute respiratory infections with a mild course are not contraindications to vaccinations. If the disease is moderate or severe, the child can be vaccinated as soon as his condition improves.
- Antibiotic use is not a barrier to vaccine prevention. As well as taking endocrine, antiallergic, cardiac and other drugs needed as supportive treatment for chronic pathologies. If steroid drugs are used topically (inhalation, sprays, eye drops, ointments), this will also not be an obstacle to the introduction of the vaccine.
- Also, contraindications do not include the contact of a child with a person who has an infectious disease.
- If the baby was transfused with blood products, then the introduction of live vaccines is postponed for a certain period (it depends on the type of blood product and its volume), since with the transfusion, antibodies enter the baby's body, which interfere with the development of immunity to live vaccine viruses.
- If a child has hemophilia, then intramuscular injection of the vaccine is dangerous with the risk of bleeding, so the vaccine is placed subcutaneously in a place where it is possible to press the injection zone. Also, the child is prescribed drugs to support clotting.
- Cases of a reaction to the vaccine or seizures in a close relative are not an obstacle for the introduction of DTP. If the child's neurological diseases are stable (developmental delay, cerebral palsy), he can be vaccinated.
- A positive Mantoux test should not be an obstacle to vaccination against mumps, rubella and measles.
- If the child underwent surgery, it is recommended to start vaccination 3-4 weeks after it.
- If the baby has mild anemia, it can be vaccinated.
- As for allergic diseases, vaccination, if present, is, on the contrary, recommended, since their infections are much more severe (for example, if a child with asthma becomes infected with whooping cough).
- It is not necessary to refuse vaccinations for a child with congenital malformations if his condition is compensated.
Tips
If your child has contraindications, the risks of infection increase, but this does not mean at all that the child will necessarily have those infectious diseases from which vaccinations protect. Do not forget that in addition to vaccination, immunity should be strengthened by tempering, a balanced diet, walking, and healthy sleep.
Talk to your pediatrician about how you can improve your baby's resistance to infections so that nothing prevents your baby from growing and being in the community.
