Waiting his turn to be checkup & injected by Dr. Siew..his favourite paed at KPJThese three vaccine are not provided by government to babies in Malaysia due to high cost. Hence you need to get it from private hospital if you are patronize government clinic. It is very important as we know prevention is better than cure. Remember our baby life is so fragile. As for us we do not even think when Travissh favourite paed at KPJ Hospital, Dr. Siew advice us to get these vaccine for him. We just say "Definitely we want".
Cost is not an issue even if the price reach 1k per jab I olso don't mind. He is our breath..our heart..our soul. Duit senang nak cari tapi anak? we have waiting for him for 4 years...By the way Vish has completed his pneumococcal vaccine doses and at 18 months he will have his chicken pox vaccine & meningococcal at 2 years....dear we do our best to protect you. So far Vish is blessed with good health very rare get flu, fever and cough..until now only one time fever and twice flu and he recover very fast (less than 24 hours)...he olso lucky not to have any problem during teething period...THANK GOD...Mommy has give him Cod fish liver oil & best formula milk as a weapon to strike virus...He olso fast in everything...fast learner, talker, walker, striker all he has ahead from other kid at same age..proud with u darling.
Below are the doses and prices of vaccine for references (for Vish) as requested by Mommy Kaggy...other paed might have different price, recommended age and number of dosage depending on the child however the differences is not much.
Pnumoccocal
Number of doses: 3 doses (2, 4, 6 months and between 12 to 15 months) older childeren will get fewer vaccines
Price: RM 280 per jab (so total RM1120)
Chicken pox
Number of doses: 1 for lifetime (15-18 months)
Price: RM100+
Meningococcal
Number of doses: 1 ( 2 years old)
Price: Unknown as Vish havent reach 2 years
PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINE
What are the benefits of the pneumococcal vaccine?
This vaccine protects against pneumococcal (pronounced new-m'COCKL) infections, which mostly strike children under age 5 and can lead to some of the worst childhood diseases. Pneumococcal infections are one of the most common causes of death in the United States from a disease that's preventable through a vaccine.
Before the vaccine came along, pneumococcal infection caused more than 700 cases of meningitis, 13,000 blood infections, and 5 million ear infections in children under 5 every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vaccine is effective in up to 90 percent of people who get it.
The bugs responsible for pneumococcal are bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. They live in the mucous lining of the nose and in the back of the throat. And when they're plentiful enough, they can cause an infection in the respiratory tract, middle ear, or sinus cavities. Antibiotics such as penicillin can kill them, but up to 40 percent of the strains are resistant to antibiotics.
Pneumococcal bacteria spread by close contact and through coughing and sneezing. Diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia can crop up within days of infection.
Symptoms of pneumococcal pneumonia usually include fever and chills with shaking or trembling, as well as chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, fatigue, and weakness. Nausea, vomiting, and headaches are also associated with pneumococcal pneumonia, but are less common.
Pneumococcal bacteria also cause some of the most serious ear infections in children.
News about the latest pneumococcal vaccine
In February 2010, the FDA licensed a new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease in children: Prevnar 13, or PCV13. PCV13 protects against more strains of pneumococcal bacteria than the previous vaccine, PCV7.
This protection is important because PCV7 doesn’t protect against certain strains of bacteria that have become more common in recent years. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the new vaccine offers protection against the strains of pneumococcal bacteria that most often cause severe pneumococcal infections in children.
What's the recommended schedule?
Recommended number of doses
Four doses.
Recommended ages
• At 2 months
• At 4 months
• At 6 months
• Between 12 and 15 months
What to do if your child has already received the old vaccine
The CDC recommends that 1) children who have received one or more doses of PCV7 complete their immunization series with PCV13, and 2) children 12 through 59 months of age who have already received all their PCV7 doses receive one dose of PCV13.
To track your child's immunizations, use BabyCenter's Immunization Scheduler.
Are there any precautions I should take?
Mildly ill children can be vaccinated. But if your child has a high fever or a severe illness, such as pneumonia, wait until his health improves before taking him in for the vaccine. He'll be better able to handle the immunization when he's healthy.
What are the possible side effects?
CHICKEN POX VACCINE
What are the benefits of the chicken pox vaccine?
It may seem unnecessary, because childhood chicken pox (also known as varicella) is usually a relatively mild illness. And some parents think it's better to let their kids be exposed to chicken pox so they'll have the illness (and the resulting immunity) naturally.
But most experts now recommend the chicken pox vaccine, and many schools and daycare centers require it. Here's why:
1) Chicken pox is no party. If your child gets it, he's likely to develop a rash of itchy, painful blisters accompanied by fever and fatigue. If the blisters get infected, he may need antibiotics. They may also leave permanent scars, possibly on his face. If he's going to daycare or school when he gets chicken pox, he'll have to stay home for eight or nine days.
2) Chicken pox can be serious and even deadly. Before the vaccine came along, an average of 10,600 hospitalizations and 100 to 150 deaths caused by chicken pox occurred annually in the United States. Most of the severe complications and deaths occurred in previously healthy people.
3) The vaccine will protect your child from the worst of this illness. While the vaccine isn't 100 percent effective (about 15 percent of vaccinated children still get chicken pox), vaccinated children who come down with it will have only very mild symptoms. That usually means fewer than 50 blisters, no fever, and less sick time.
4) The vaccine can help protect your child against a related disease called shingles. About 10 percent of adults who have chicken pox earlier in life get this rash of extremely painful and disfiguring blisters that can be inches across.
Shingles appears when the chicken pox virus, which lives forever in the central nervous system, "reawakens" and becomes active again. People who have been vaccinated against chicken pox may still get shingles but will have a much less severe case than those who had the disease itself.
For all these reasons, both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have put the chicken pox vaccine on the schedule of recommended immunizations.
What's the recommended schedule?
Recommended number of doses
Two shots at least three months apart.
Recommended ages
• Between 12 and 15 months
• Between 4 and 6 years
To track your child's immunizations, use BabyCenter's Immunization Scheduler.
Who shouldn't get the chicken pox vaccine?
A child who has ever had a severe allergic reaction to gelatin (yes, the stuff that's in Jell-O) or the antibiotic neomycin. If he has a severe allergic reaction to his first vaccination, he shouldn't receive a second.
If your child has cancer or any disease that affects his immune system, has recently had a blood transfusion, or is taking high doses of oral steroids (for asthma or poison ivy, for instance), his doctor will carefully evaluate whether receiving the vaccine is a good idea.
Is the chicken pox vaccine a live vaccine?
Varicella is a live-attenuated vaccine, which means it's a live virus that's been weakened so that it won't cause the disease. Instead, the virus will replicate in the cells of the body and cause it to produce an immune response, which should protect against a real chicken pox infection.
What are the possible side effects?
About 20 percent of children will have some soreness at the site of the injection. About 10 percent will have a low-grade fever. About 4 percent will have a mild rash (around ten chicken pox—like blisters).
Fewer than one in a thousand will have a seizure caused by high fever. Though these febrile seizures may seem scary, they're almost always harmless for the child. But you should call your doctor right away if your child has one.
Severe allergic reactions are rare but possible with any vaccine. See what our expert says about how to tell whether your baby's having an adverse reaction.
MENINGOCOCCAL VACCINE
This vaccine protects against meningococcal disease. Before the vaccine came along, meningococcal disease was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis (an infection of fluid around the brain and spinal cord) in children in the United States.
Between 1,000 and 2,600 people in the United States get meningococcal disease each year, and 1 in 10 people dies from it. The disease can also cause loss of limbs, deafness, mental retardation, stroke, and other serious problems.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that children receive a single dose of the meningococcal vaccine (MCV4) at their routine, preadolescent doctor's visit (11 to 12 years of age). Kids who miss that dose, the CDC says, should get it at the earliest opportunity. College freshmen living in dormitories and teenagers ages 15 to19 have an increased risk of getting meningococcal disease. The vaccine is also recommended for certain high-risk children ages 2 to 10.
According to the CDC, the vaccine protects about 90 percent of those who are immunized. For more details, visit the vaccine information sheet on the CDC website.
