Maternal & Newborn Atlas
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Vaccines in infancy and pregnancy

Vaccines teach the body's defences to recognise harmful germs before a baby meets them. Babies get routine vaccines at well-child visits on a schedule, and in the United States CDC publishes that schedule. Some vaccines are given to a pregnant person to protect the baby: this atlas has pages on the RSV vaccine and on Tdap in pregnancy, and on an RSV antibody given to babies.

  • Care topic
  • In this atlas

Overview

Technical summary

A hub for vaccine pages. MedlinePlus (public domain) explains what vaccines are, why babies need them, that newborns are too young to get some vaccines and that the US schedule is published by CDC; it also says vaccines go through extensive safety testing before approval. The CDC schedule was not read. Vaccines given to the mother are recorded with the mother as the recipient and the baby as the person measured; claims keep the two apart. Linked pages: RSV in infants, RSV vaccination in pregnancy, an RSV antibody for babies, and Tdap in pregnancy.

Scope

Routine childhood vaccines and the vaccines given in pregnancy to protect the baby.

Life stages
  • Pregnancy
  • Infant follow-up
Care setting
Well-child visits and prenatal care.

Claims and evidence

Context Infants and children given routine vaccines (MedlinePlus summary)

Recipient
Child
Population
Babies and children who receive routine childhood vaccines, as the MedlinePlus topic Vaccines for Children describes them. The page names the US vaccine schedule published by CDC.
Care setting
Well-child visits (the page names well-child visits as the setting for vaccines).
Geography
United States for the schedule (the page says CDC publishes it); the rest of the page is general
Life stage
Infants and children
Gestational age
Not reported
Postnatal age
Not reported
Follow-up
Not applicable (health topic summary)
Eligibility: 1 inclusion criterion; 1 exclusion criterion
Included
  • Babies and children
Excluded
  • Not stated in the source that was read

  • Description Guidance Certainty not assessed

    MedlinePlus says vaccines teach the immune system to recognise and defend against harmful germs. It says babies are born with immune systems that can fight most germs but cannot handle some serious diseases, and that newborn babies are too young to get some vaccines, and community immunity can help protect them. Children get vaccines at well-child visits according to a vaccine schedule that lists which vaccines are recommended for children, who should get them, how many doses they need and at what age, and in the United States CDC publishes the schedule.

    Applies to Child
    • Babies and children who receive routine childhood vaccines, as the MedlinePlus topic Vaccines for Children describes them. The page names the US vaccine schedule published by CDC.
    • Well-child visits (the page names well-child visits as the setting for vaccines).
    • United States for the schedule (the page says CDC publishes it); the rest of the page is general
    • Infants and children
    • Gestational age Not reported
    • Postnatal age Not reported
    Follow-up Not applicable (health topic summary)
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    A plain-language health topic summary. It lists no vaccine, dose or age; the CDC schedule was not read (cdc.gov returns HTTP 403 to scripts, per the plan's host checks). Maternal vaccines in pregnancy are on the RSV and Tdap pages.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (7)

    1. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, What are vaccines?, paragraph 1, sentence 1
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    2. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, Why do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 1, sentence 1
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    3. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, Why do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 4, sentences 4 and 5
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    4. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, When do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 1, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    5. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, When do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 1, sentence 3
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    6. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, When do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 1, sentence 4
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    7. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, When do I need to vaccinate my child?, paragraph 1, sentence 5
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

  • Safety Guidance Certainty not assessed

    MedlinePlus says vaccines must go through extensive safety testing and evaluation before they are approved in the United States. It adds that many scientific studies have looked at whether childhood vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder and have found no link between vaccines and autism.

    Applies to Child
    • Babies and children who receive routine childhood vaccines, as the MedlinePlus topic Vaccines for Children describes them. The page names the US vaccine schedule published by CDC.
    • Well-child visits (the page names well-child visits as the setting for vaccines).
    • United States for the schedule (the page says CDC publishes it); the rest of the page is general
    • Infants and children
    • Gestational age Not reported
    • Postnatal age Not reported
    Follow-up Not applicable (health topic summary)
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    A plain-language summary of safety, not a review of safety studies. The studies it refers to were not read, and the page gives no rates of side effects.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (2)

    1. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, Are vaccines safe for children?, paragraph 1, sentences 2 and 3
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    2. Supports Vaccines for Children / Childhood Immunization (MedlinePlus health topic)

      Webpage · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · Edition The health topic page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date.

      Locator
      Summary, Are vaccines safe for children?, paragraph 2, sentence 2
      How it applies
      MedlinePlus health topic summary.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      e159e20f6c62174505079fcdef8b2af2b96b59ba4527d3fdac6a6f4ef992b48a
      Reuse basis
      MedlinePlus page Linking to and Using Content (fetched as ml-medlineplus-using-content.html, sha256 f70c0b8c67574e30377aab0c22b44038364a37e2e9f54a2ffa67597383b3de34) lists summaries on health topic pages as public-domain content. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

Record details

Record id
maternal:infant-immunization
Content hash
2afef7e37932cbbc3bb317117adae140a57fa59c866de1e5b1a052b573a5ed19