Question

Which vaccines are given to infants? Why?

Answer 1

An infant is a more formal or technical synonym for "baby", a human's very young offspring. This term can also be used to apply to juveniles of other species. In colloquial usage, a newborn is a child that is just hours, days, or up to a month old.

Complete answer: An infant’s immune system doesn’t mature until they are 2 to 3 months old. In those first few months, slowly the immune system, especially cell-mediated immunity, becomes more developed. This is very important in helping a child fight off various viruses. This means that after a few weeks old baby’s immune system can’t fight against viruses or bacteria. Vaccines are the most vital way to protect infants. They help protect the infant from a range of dangerous and preventable diseases.
For newborns, breast milk can help protect against many diseases. However, this immunity wears off after breastfeeding is over, and some children are not breastfed at all. Also because their stomachs produce less gastric acid, making it easier for ingested bacteria and viruses to multiply. These factors make infants vulnerable to some serious diseases. Therefore vaccines can always protect them from disease, irrespective of whether or not children are breastfed. Some of the vaccines given to infants are Hepatitis B, Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination, Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), Rota V, etc.

Note: Infants also have some passive immunity before birth. The baby builds up this passive immunity when the mother passes antibodies to it through the placenta. This mostly happens during the last three months of pregnancy and it is called passive because the baby does not produce the antibodies itself. The mother’s immunity system decides which antibodies will be passed on.