Vaccine Archives - Being The Doctor

How to Get My Baby Vaccinated Without Making Her Cry? Vaccination Day Tips from Dr Prasoon

February 15, 2023 by Dr Prasoon

I will never forget the day when my son got his first shot in his thoughs! It was a private hospital in Calicut and there was no one outside the vaccination room when we reached there! The nurse who was appointed to give the shot first tried to soothe my 6 week old son, then … Read more

Proper Prevention of Tetanus

March 31, 2018March 30, 2018 by Dr Prasoon

Injured persons are an integral part of every Out Patient Department (OPD) in a hospital. At our hospital we get around 5 to 10 injury cases every day. And there is only one thing common in all these cases… all of them want Injection TT (Tetanus Toxoid). If it is a child who gets injured, the parents drag them to the hospital just to prick them with the syringe loaded with the magical ‘TT’. I am talking about the people in my area who resist the idea of immunization of small kids. They blatantly refuse to give the small babies injections, but they want everybody to get the ‘TT’ which they consider as a medicine for wound healing, and not as a vaccine. According to these demanding patients, one dose of TT is effective only for 6 months. I have no idea where they get such ideas from and so in this post I will be dealing with the Prevention of Tetanus and some of the important misconceptions regarding the Tetanus Immunization.

Before you go into the details of Tetanus, you might want to take a look at the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).

Timeline of an Immunization Day

November 11, 2017 by Dr Prasoon

Did you know that we celebrate “World Immunization Day” on the tenth of November every year? We at BeingTheDoctor have covered a number of articles on vaccines, their schedule and special programmes to promote immunization. You can find those informative articles here. In this post, I’ll tell you the activities that goes behind the scene … Read more

Thoughts on the MR vaccination campaign – Week 1

October 20, 2017 by Dr Prasoon

As you all might be aware, the Measles Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign kickstarted in Kerala on October 3, 2017. It’s a huge programme, probably the first one of it’s kind in India covering every child in the age group of 9 months to 15 years. One shot of the MR vaccine is given irrespective of … Read more

MR Vaccine – Old Wine in New Bottle

June 17, 2017 by Dr Prasoon

After mitral regurgitation, mental retardation and medical reimbursement, there’s a new kid in the block for the MR family of medicine and it’s the Measles – Rubella vaccine. By July 31 of 2017, there’s going to be a massive change in the current routine vaccination schedule in Kerala. The measles only vaccine given at 9 … Read more

Does the Vaccines really Contain Harmful Mercury?

April 21, 2017April 21, 2017 by Dr Prasoon

In the past few years, I had to face many persons questioning the safety of vaccines. The vast majority of them are concerned about the mercury content in vaccines. Why use Thiomersal in vaccines? Isn’t it a mercury containing harmful compound? Then why are the vaccines containing mercury being given to small children and adults … Read more

Why to Vaccinate your Child?

February 3, 2017February 2, 2017 by Dr Prasoon

Ravi Kiran, a cute little 4 year old boy had just moved in to my neighbourhood. It took only a few months to start loving him. Believe me, he was such a talkative boy for his age. One day when I returned from the college tired, my mother who was his best friend was gloomy. Apparently, Ravi was admitted in a private hospital that day morning as he had high grade fever and vomiting. When I called his father to enquire about little Ravi’s health, I was told that Ravi was suffering from “Meningitis”. The next day, when I visited him at the hospital, Ravi was in deep sleep. The poor kid was looking very tired. He was diagnosed with “Tuberculous Meningitis” which meant that the bacterium causing Tuberculosis had decided to injure Ravi’s brain instead of his lungs. The infection of the brain had caused the fever, vomiting, seizures and all the other symptoms. Ravi was discharged after about 2 weeks treatment at the hospital. Ravi had survived a deadly disease, but he wasn’t the same old active and talkative boy that everyone loved. He had lost his hearing sense due to the brain injury caused by the Meningitis and the hearing loss was going to be permanent. The disease had changed the life of a boy at such a young age. His parents were the culprits and they knew it.