Art & Poetry in Medicine, Clinical, Featured, Pediatrics
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Pediatric Vaccine Schedule

Your mom gets tetanus (Tdap)
before you’re born,
Plus COVID and flu
are the norm.

After your birth
you get Hep B,
plus some erythromycin
to make sure you can see.

Shots at two months
are Hep B part two,
But Rota, Hib, DTaP,
pneumo and polio are new.

Four months is boring
since it’s all the same,
Except you skip Hep B
and keep all other names.

You’re half a year old!
But shots are like month two,
except you can add
COVID and flu.

Now nine months gets tricky
since you can mix it up,
But basically nine months
is just for catch-up.

Hib and pneumo are complete
around one year.
Now Hep A, MMR,
and varicella are to fear.

By fifteen months
we could all use a nap,
But all you’re adding
is your fourth dose of DTaP.

At eighteen months you just need
the second dose of Hep A,
Unless you’re behind
on other vaccines that day.

Now you’re getting older
and it gets kinda weird,
So we’ll skip ahead
to 4-6 years….

You’re on the fifth dose of DTaP,
have you been counting so far?
Your fourth dose of polio,
second of varicella and MMR.

At 11-12 years
you’re not quite a teen,
But you will need
HPV, Tdap, and meningococcal vaccine.

Let’s finish it up
with when you can drive (16),
Only a second dose of meningococcal
and an awesome high-five.

Image credit: SELF Magazine (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Holly Ingram, MD, MPH Holly Ingram, MD, MPH (3 Posts)

Resident Physician Contributing Author

Wake Forest University School of Medicine


Holly Ingram is currently a pediatric resident at Wake Forest SOM in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2016, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology with minors in chemistry and anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She obtained her MPH from East Carolina University, and in 2022 graduated from Brody SOM with her MD. In her free time, Holly enjoys playing soccer, visiting waterfalls, and spending time with her daughter and husband.