General information
The vaccination topic is in Germany until today a hotly discussed topic. Opponents of vaccination particularly criticize that babies should be vaccinated at an early age. The STIKO is the vaccination commission in Germany and issues recommendations, but there is no compulsory vaccination in Germany yet.
Vaccinations from the 2nd month of life
Vaccinations are recommended from the second month of life. Until the 2nd month of life the children are protected by the so-called nest protection. Among the recommended vaccinations from the 2nd month of life on are mainly vaccinations against the so-called childhood diseases. From the second month of life should be vaccinated against:.
- Tetanus (lockjaw),
- Diphtheria (inflammation of the throat),
- Whooping cough,
- Haemophilus influenza (can cause meningitis, for example),
- Polio (poliomyelitis),
- Pneumococci (bacteria that can cause pneumonia, for example)
- Rotaviruses and
- Hepatitis
Vaccinations for U4
The U4 examination is the fourth preventive examination for children in the third to fourth month of life. The examination focuses on physical and mental development and the development of the sensory organs. At this time, the infant should have some head control while sitting, be able to bring the hands together in the midline and have developed a reactive smile.
This means that the baby reacts to its environment, especially to faces, with a smile. This smile usually develops between the sixth and eighth week. The sensory organs, especially sight and hearing, are also examined.
Since babies cannot yet express themselves, they need to be tricked a little. It is tested whether the infant fixes and follows objects held in front of him with his eyes. Hearing ability is tested in a similar way, namely whether the child moves its head towards the sounds.
In addition, questions of nutrition and digestion and possible difficulties with drinking and feeding are clarified. These include weakness in drinking, swallowing difficulties, vomiting or whether abnormal excretion is present. In addition, various vaccinations are recommended at the time of U4.
These include the six-fold vaccination recommended by the STIKO against tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), polio (poliomyelitis), hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib). In addition, vaccination against pneumococcus can also be given at this time. All these vaccines are dead vaccines.
This means that the vaccine contains whole killed pathogens, fragments of them or only their toxin. Live vaccines, on the other hand, consist of very few live pathogens, which are so weakened that they can still reproduce, but no longer cause disease. These include vaccines against mumps, measles, rubella and chickenpox (varicella).
A fully developed immune system is required to be able to carry out live vaccines successfully and with few side effects. Since this is only guaranteed in infants from nine months at the earliest, the mumps, measles, rubella (varicella) vaccination is only recommended in the 11th -14th month of life. The vaccination recommendations for the 3rd and 4th month are the same as for the 2nd month. From the 11th month onwards, there are also: Up to the 11th year of life after that, almost only refreshments are necessary.
- A measles mumps rubella,
- Chickenpox and
- Meningococcal C vaccination recommended.
