Children (3 to 5 years)
This section provides information about recommended immunisations for children aged 3 to 5 years.
Pre-school immunisations: A guide to vaccinations for 3 to 5 year olds (2007 edition) is a leaflet intended for health professionals to give to parents. It provides an overview on all the routine immunisations given to young children to protect them from serious childhood diseases. It also describes these diseases and explains why children need protection against them.
Recommended vaccines recommended for children aged 3 years 4 months to 5 years old:
DTaP/IPV
When: between 3 years 4 months and 5 years old
Protects against: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio
MMR
When: between 3 years 4 months and 5 years old.
Protects against: measles, mumps and rubella (german measles)
Both vaccines are given as a pre-school booster.
HIB
The Hib booster campaign began on 5th November 2007 and will continue until 3rd March 2009.
Its purpose is to provide a Hib booster to young children who have not previously received one. The cohort targeted will be children born on or between 4th April 2003 and 3rd September 2005. They were too young to have had a booster as part of the 2003 Hib catch-up campaign, and too old to have received the new Hib/MenC booster vaccine at 12 months of age following its introduction in September 2006. Most children in the catch-up cohort will receive their Hib-booster dose at the same time as they receive their routine pre-school booster.
Further Information
If you want more information on vaccines and immunisations, speak to your doctor, health visitor or nurse or call the NHS Helpline, Freephone on 0800 22 44 88.
For copies of any Health Scotland publication please contact your local Health Promotion Department or contact publications@health.scot.nhs.uk. Alternative versions are also available in braille, audio format and community languages.