Immunization for infants and toddlers

Getting your child immunized, and immunized on time, is one of the most important ways to keep them healthy. Learn the benefits of immunizations.

• Routine childhood immunizations are offered at 2, 4, 6, 12, 18 months, and 4 years of age.
• Vaccines work best when they are given at the right time as your child grows. Follow the B.C. immunization schedule.

If your child has a chronic health condition, different chronic health conditions can put your child at risk for different vaccine-preventable diseases. Talk with your doctor or a nurse from your local public health unit to find out what vaccines your child may need.

Immunizations schedules are often different from country to country. As a new Canadian, there may be free vaccines that your child is eligible for. Talk with a nurse at your local public health unit to find out.

Routine childhood immunizations are free. Learn the risks of alternative schedules and choosing not to vaccinate your child.

How to keep your child's immunizations up to date and know what vaccine is next

• Book your child’s next appointment after your child is immunized and while you are still at the health unit.
• Sign up with ImmunizeBC to get text message reminders.
• Download the CANImmunize App for your iPhone or Android device.

• VCH Immunization Clinic 
  Book an appointment at an immunization clinic near you. 
   
• Family practitioner (call ahead) 
  Please provide us with immunization records if completed through a family practitioner. 
  How to provide immunization records to VCH

• Register your child with Get Vaccinated and you will see multiple locations near you to book when you receive your invitation.
• VCH Immunization Clinic locations, when your infant or young child receives it together with their routine immunizations.

Routine recommended vaccines for infants and toddlers are free. There are additional vaccines available for purchase that may benefit your child, including vaccines to protect against hepatitis A and additional types of meningococcal bacteria. These vaccines are available from travel clinics, most pharmacies and some doctor’s offices. For more information on these vaccines, speak to your family doctor. 

Some people worry that vaccines can cause other health problems, such as autism. Researchers have not found any evidence of a link between vaccines and autism or any other illnesses. Learn more about the safety of vaccines.

Children born in B.C. receive a Child Health Passport booklet. Bring this booklet to each visit, record your child’s immunizations and keep it in a safe place. You may need it later to sign up for daycare or school, to travel or to take to the hospital in case of emergency.

If you lose your child’s health passport, contact your doctor or Public Health for their immunization records and record it on:

• An immunization card
• The CANImmunize App for your iPhone or Android device

It is important to keep your child’s immunization record up to date. Parents or guardians can access their child’s health record through Health Gateway . Health Gateway only shows immunizations in the Provincial Immunization Registry; this includes immunizations given at a VCH Immunization Clinic. It does not show immunizations given by other health-care providers (i.e. family doctors/nurse practitioners or from health-care providers from First Nations communities or in communities outside of B.C.).

• Learn how to request immunization records.
• Learn how to report your child’s immunization record to VCH and more about immunization records.

VCH is currently supporting the Ministry of Health to do a survey to determine the immunization rates of two-year old children in our region. 

Parents and guardians of children born in 2020 and currently living in the VCH region, whose names were drawn at random, have been invited to participate by letter. Participation in this brief, 10-minute survey is voluntary.

If you are a parent or guardian who received a letter, we appreciate your help. The survey will not only allow us to determine up-to-date immunization rates for this age group, but as your child was born during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will also help us understand if there were any impacts from the pandemic on routine childhood immunizations. This information can help us design Public Health programs and services to ensure that all young children from our communities are provided with the best access to immunization services.  

For more information about the survey, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.