NICU – Vaccination Kick off

Infants are particularly vulnerable to infections. Preemies are even more so.

photo credit: potomacpediatrics

Vaccinations and following the schedule until 2 years old is very important.

With the first vaccination, you are given a vaccination booklet, which you should keep in a safe place.

Usually, very first shot babies got is Hepatitis B. It is given to newborns in the first 24-48 hours of life before they meet with the outside world.

In our experience with a preemie, D. got her first Hep-B vaccination NOT when she was born. She got it on the day of discharge right before she got to see the sky just like a full-term newborn. That is how our vaccination story started.

When we got discharged, she was 36 weeks old. Then she got her second month mandatory vaccinations when she was 44 weeks old (2 months after discharge). That is how we moved forward with vaccination timings.

Her second vaccination AT DISCHARGE was RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus). RSV is known to cause infection of the lungs and respiratory tract. RSV is usually recommended for preemies as their lungs are still in the process of development and open to virus more than a full-term newborn is.

When we got discharged, we were in the last month of RSV season in Dubai (season is October through March in Dubai), so we decided to get it. It needs to be done monthly during season. We only got one for the month of March and season was finished.

It is a very expensive vaccination yet our insurance covered it. (Most insurances cover RSV vaccination for preemie babies for the first 6 months of their life, some covers for the first year of life).

When RSV season arrived in October again, D. was 9 months old. She was thriving in terms of weight, height and milestones. I checked with three doctors if we really needed this extra set of vaccinations for a consecutive of 5 months. 2 of them said there is no need at all considering D.’s most recent status. Our NICU doctor being the most cautious of all said, it would be beneficial. I definitely knew where he was coming from. However, when it came to vaccinations, I am on team “if it is really necessary/mandatory”.

We decided NOT to get the RSV vaccines.

Thankfully, nothing that would make us regret our decision happened during season.