National Immunization Schedule

Ensuring that your child is immune to preventive and life-threatening conditions is a must. In 1978, a programme was initiated across the country, called the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI). This programme helps families access free vaccinations against 11 diseases. These include:

• Tuberculosis

• Diphtheria

• Pertussis

• Tetanus

• Polio

• Hepatitis B

• Pneumonia and Meningitis due to Haemophilus Influenzae Type B

• Measles

• Rubella

• Japanese Encephalitis (JE)

• Rotavirus diarrhoea

You can consult your family doctor and acquire advice on the vaccinations that your child should take in a given period of time.

The Expanded Programme of Immunisation of 1978 was expanded to the Universal Immunisation programme later in 1985. This programme offered free vaccinations for the children of India which included immunisation against 11 diseases and ailments. 

Under this programme, state governments plan immunisation schedules, marking the maximum and minimum age at which children can be vaccinated against a particular disease. Hence, if your children are not vaccinated yet, you may take the assistance offered by this programme.

Here’s the schedule created by the Ministry of Health, Government of India, for pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents:

*Td-2 vaccines or the booster should be administered before 36 weeks of pregnancy. The vaccine can be given even after 36 months of pregnancy.

**A parent in labour can be administered the Td-2 vaccine only if they haven’t previously received the Td Pentavalent vaccine

*** The JE vaccine is available only at select endemic districts.

The Under-5 Mortality Rate (U-5MR) in India is 37 for every 1000 births. One of the major causes of this are diarrhoeal deaths, a disease primarily caused by the rotavirus.

Pentavalent vaccines are a combination of DPT (diphtheria, Pertussis/whooping cough and tetanus), Hepatitis B, and Hib vaccines. DPT and Hepatitis B vaccines, which are already a part of the immunisation programme, are being replaced by the pentavalent vaccines in a phased manner. The pentavalent vaccines are administered intramuscularly in doses of 0.5 ml in the mid-thigh region.

The revised immunisation schedule, when pentavalent vaccines are introduced, is as follows:

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics which is the largest organisation of paediatricians in India endorses the National Immunisation Schedule. The committee has further supplemented the schedule with the Hepatitis B and the MMR vaccines (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella). Even though Rubella might appear to be a mild illness, it can cause congenital defects in babies if the mother is not protected against Rubella and catches the infection during pregnancy. The schedule is as follows:

• BCG: Bacillus Calmette Guerin

• OPV: Oral poliovirus vaccine

• DTwP: Diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell Pertussis

• DT: Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids

• TT: Tetanus toxoid

• Hep B: Hepatitis B vaccine

• MMR: Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine

• Hib: Haemophilus influenzae Type ‘b’ Vaccine

• IPV: Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine

• Td: Tetanus, reduced dose diphtheria toxoid

• HPV: Human Papillomavirus Vaccine

• PCV: Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine

• TdaP: Tetanus and Diphtheria Toxoids and aCellular Pertussis Vaccine

The immunisation schedule recommended by the WHO is as follows:

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