Childhood immunisation schedule by age

Before you read this

This is general information about how childhood immunisation schedules usually work in India. It is not a personal vaccination plan, and it is not a description of what Dr Gargi Mathur will recommend for your specific child. What your child actually needs depends on their own record, and that is a question for a visit, not a webpage.

Why timing matters more than almost anything else

Most childhood vaccines work by giving a developing immune system protection before it is likely to meet the disease itself, often in a series of doses spaced weeks or months apart. Missing or delaying a dose does not usually mean starting over, but it can mean a window of time where a child is less protected than the schedule intended. That is the whole reason a schedule exists rather than a single visit early in life.

Birth to six months

This is generally the busiest period on any immunisation schedule. Several vaccines are given in a series during these first months, often starting at birth or within the first few weeks, with further doses at intervals through six months. A birth record or discharge summary from the hospital usually lists what was already given before you left, which is worth bringing to the first pediatric visit rather than trying to recall it from memory.

Six months to two years

Booster doses and additional vaccines are commonly due through this stage, and it is also when a child is often out in the world more — at a creche, with other children, travelling — which is part of why this window is not one to let slip. A vaccination record, kept consistently from birth, becomes genuinely useful here: it is the one document that tells anyone, including a new doctor, exactly what has already been given.

Two to ten years

The pace usually slows considerably after the second birthday, but it does not stop. Certain boosters are commonly scheduled around school entry, and some vaccines given earlier need a later booster dose to keep working. This is also usually the easiest stage to lose track of, precisely because visits become less frequent — a yearly check against the child's own record is a reasonable habit to keep.

The teenage years

A handful of vaccines and boosters are commonly recommended in the early teenage years. This stage is easy to overlook, because it no longer comes with the same run of infant checkups that made the earlier schedule hard to miss. Raising it at any routine visit is a reasonable way to check nothing has been left out.

Checking what your child actually needs

None of the above is a substitute for your child's own vaccination record. Message with your child's age and which vaccines are already done, and you will know what is due and when to bring them in.

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