Check the child's immunisation and vitamin A status

Every sick and healthy child visiting your health post or visited you at home should be checked for the immunisation status, Vitamin A and deworming. Vitamin A for greater than nine months age children and Mebendazole/Albendazole for greater than 2 years children are routine doses every six months are provided as health promotion programs. Immunisation is to prevent the vaccine-preventable diseases.

Vitamin A and mebendazole are to prevent the micronutrient deficiency diseases vitamin A deficiency and anemia. For full details of the vaccines in the EPI, their cold storage, stock control and organisation of vaccination campaigns and routine clinics are given in the Immunization Module and session 6 and 7 of this module for the dosages of vitamin and Mebendazole.

Immunisation Schedule

Contraindications to vaccine administration

A contraindication is one or more conditions which make administration of vaccines inadvisable due to some potential side effects. Common illnesses are not contraindications for immunisation. So, all children should be checked for the immunisation status and vaccinated unless there is a clear contraindication.
There are only three situations which are considered to be contraindications to immunisation:

• A child is known to have AIDS is contraindicated for BCG vaccine.
• A child who has had convulsions or shock within three days of the last dose of Pentavalent is contraindicated to repeat any doses of pentavalent vaccines now.
• A child with recurrent convulsions or another active neurological disease of the central nervous system is contraindicated for pentavalent vaccines.
• Hypersensitivity in previous Rota Virus vaccine.

There are no contraindications to immunisation of a sick child if the child is well enough. If you are referring a child, you do not need to give him or her vaccine before referral. The staff at the referral site should make the decision about immunising the child when the child is admitted. This will avoid delaying referral. Children with diarrhoea who are due to OPV should still receive this during their visit to the health post. However, the dose should not be counted and you should tell the mother to return with the child in four weeks for an additional dose of OPV.

Recording the child's immunisation status

When you have checked the child's immunisation status and given the correct dose of vaccines for the child's age you should use the case recording form (see Case Study below). Put a check mark (√) for their immunisations already given and circle the immunisations needed at the current visit. If the child needs to return for an immunisation, write the date that the child should return in the classification column.