What are Delayed Schedule Vaccinations?

Delayed schedule vaccinations are schedules for inoculation and other vaccinations that are crafted to ensure that children do receive all vaccinations that are currently considered to be necessary for proper health. However, these delayed schedules do not follow the timing of standard recommended schedules that are employed in many countries around the world. Instead, parents and legal guardians make the decisions about when a particular vaccination will be administered to the child.

There are a few reasons why a parent or parents may choose to look into delayed schedule vaccinations. In some cases, the decision of the parents comes about after consulting with a primary care physician. Extenuating circumstances related to the medical condition or physical development of the child could make it prudent to deviate from the normally recommended vaccination schedule, and set up an alternate schedule of vaccinations that is deemed to be more appropriate for the situation.

Parents and guardians may also choose to delay scheduled vaccinations because of concerns other than physical health. For example, the parents may be concerned about emotional trauma related to the administration of the vaccinations, and choose to delay the action until the child is older. The idea is that overall the action will prove to be beneficial for the child from both a physical and an emotional point of view.

Delayed schedule vaccinations do not mean that the essential vaccinations are simply put off until some vague future time. Generally, the schedule calls for determining a specific point in time when the vaccinations will take place. The process of delayed schedule vaccinations also involves determining the order in which the vaccinations will take place, which may be different from the general order recommended by most physicians.

Parents and health professionals often work to develop workable delayed schedule vaccinations that both parties can consider to be in the best interests of the child. In most cases, even delayed schedule vaccinations will provide that all essential vaccinations occur within a given period of time. This is particularly true in locations where there are specific regulations that govern the administration of particular inoculations to children by a certain age.