A few steps
Whole house
Before you decide
What each shot is for and what its official sheet says about its benefits and its risks, then your rights at the doctor's office and questions to ask.
This page sums up the official sheets. The doctor can answer questions about one person's health.
Checked against the official sheets on October 20, 2026.
Not sure which shots were already given? Ask the doctor's office or the health department for a copy of the record.
The CDC also has sheets for vaccines not on this page, such as HPV, flu, hepatitis A, rotavirus and COVID-19. All the CDC sheets
Doses each child is recommended to get by age 18 on the routine schedule, counted from CDC's published schedule for that year.
Many doses can come in combination shots, such as DTaP, polio and Hib in one, so a child gets fewer needle sticks than doses.
1983
1995
2000
2005
Plus 3 flu doses, from 6 to 23 months.
2010
Girls also 3 HPV doses: 34 doses, 15 diseases.
2015
2020
2025
The schedule on CDC's site today.
January 2026On hold
On hold by a federal court since March 16, 2026. Not in use: the schedule on CDC's site today is the July 2025 one, the 2025 bar.
Each card is one shot. Each line comes from that shot's official sheet, with hard words explained in small words. A line from anywhere else says so.
The shot
HepB.
What it is for
Hepatitis B is a liver disease. It can be a short illness, with fever, tiredness, an upset stomach, throwing up, yellow skin or eyes, and pain.
It can also stay in the body for life. Most people with the long kind have no signs, but it is still very serious and can lead to liver damage, liver cancer and death, and they can pass it on without feeling sick.
It spreads through blood or other body fluids: at birth from a mother who has it, sharing razors or toothbrushes, contact with blood or open sores, sex, and sharing needles.
What the sheet says it does
Hepatitis B vaccine can prevent hepatitis B.
Most people who get it are immune for life.
The sheet says the birth dose is an important part of preventing long-term illness in babies and the spread of hepatitis B in the United States.
What the sheet says about risks
Soreness where the shot went in, fever, headache and tiredness.
Tell the office first if you or your child
Pregnancy, from the sheet
The sheet says pregnant or breastfeeding women who were not vaccinated before should be vaccinated, and that pregnancy or breastfeeding are not reasons to avoid it.
Doses the sheet lists
2, 3 or 4 shots, the first at birth and the last at 6 to 18 months. Not from the sheet: in December 2025 a federal advisory committee voted to make the birth dose a parent's choice when the mother tests negative for hepatitis B. In January 2026 the federal government limited the hepatitis B shot to higher-risk groups, or a choice made with the doctor. A federal court put both changes on hold. The schedule on the CDC website today still lists the birth dose.
The sheet
Hepatitis B sheet (January 31, 2025, interim edition)
The shot
Two shots cover these three. DTaP is for children under 7. Tdap is for age 7 and up.
What it is for
Diphtheria spreads from person to person. It can lead to trouble breathing, heart failure, paralysis or death.
Tetanus gets in through cuts or wounds. It makes the muscles stiffen in a painful way. It can leave a person unable to open the mouth, with trouble swallowing and breathing, and can lead to death.
Whooping cough (pertussis) spreads from person to person. It causes violent coughing that cannot be stopped and makes it hard to breathe, eat or drink. It can be extremely serious, especially in babies and young children, causing pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage or death. In teens and adults it can cause weight loss, loss of bladder control, passing out, and broken ribs from coughing.
What the sheet says it does
DTaP and Tdap can prevent diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
What the sheet says about risks
DTaP. Sometimes: soreness or swelling where the shot went in, fever, fussiness, tiredness, not wanting to eat, and throwing up. More serious reactions happen much less often: seizures, non-stop crying for 3 hours or more, or a fever over 105°F. Rarely: the whole arm or leg swells, mostly in older children at the 4th or 5th dose.
The shot
IPV, the polio vaccine.
What it is for
Polio is a disease caused by a virus that can infect the spinal cord. Most people who get it have no signs, and many get better with no problems. Some get a sore throat, fever, tiredness, an upset stomach or a headache.
A smaller group get pins and needles in the legs, meningitis, or paralysis or weakness in the arms, legs or both. Paralysis can last for life and can lead to death. Some people who get better have new muscle pain and weakness 15 to 40 years later.
Polio no longer spreads in the United States. It still happens in other parts of the world.
What the sheet says it does
Polio vaccine can prevent polio.
What the sheet says about risks
A sore spot with redness, swelling or pain where the shot went in.
Tell the office first if you or your child
The shot
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b).
What it is for
Hib causes infections, mostly in children under 5. It can be mild, like an ear infection, or severe, like a blood infection, which needs a hospital and can sometimes cause death.
Before the vaccine, Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under 5 in the United States. Meningitis is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord and can lead to brain damage and deafness.
It can also cause pneumonia, throat swelling that makes it hard to breathe, and infections of the blood, joints, bones and the covering of the heart.
What the sheet says it does
Hib vaccine can prevent Hib disease.
What the sheet says about risks
Redness, warmth and swelling where the shot went in, and fever.
Tell the office first if you or your child
The shot
PCV, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
What it is for
Pneumococcal germs can cause pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, meningitis and blood infections. Young children, older adults and people with certain health risks are most at risk.
Most of these infections are mild. Some cause lasting problems, like brain damage or hearing loss. Meningitis, blood infection and pneumonia from it can lead to death.
What the sheet says it does
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine can prevent pneumococcal disease.
What the sheet says about risks
Sometimes: redness, swelling, pain or tenderness where the shot went in, fever, not wanting to eat, fussiness, tiredness, headache, muscle aches, joint pain or chills.
Young children may have a higher chance of seizures from fever if this shot is given at the same visit as a flu shot.
Tell the office first if you or your child
The shot
MMR.
What it is for
Measles causes fever, cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes, and then a rash over the whole body. It can lead to seizures, ear infections, diarrhea and pneumonia. Rarely, it can cause brain damage or death.
Mumps causes fever, headache, aches, tiredness, not wanting to eat, and swollen glands under the ears. It can lead to deafness, swelling around the brain or spinal cord, painful swelling of the testicles or ovaries, and, very rarely, death.
Rubella causes fever, sore throat, rash, headache and sore eyes. It can cause arthritis in up to half of teen and adult women. If a pregnant woman gets it, she could lose the baby or the baby could be born with serious birth defects.
What the sheet says it does
MMR can prevent measles, mumps and rubella.
Most people who get MMR are protected for life.
What the sheet says about risks
Sometimes: a sore arm or redness where the shot went in, fever, and a mild rash. Swollen glands in the cheeks or neck, or joint pain and stiffness that goes away, mostly in teen or adult women.
The shot
Varicella, the chickenpox vaccine.
What it is for
Chickenpox causes an itchy rash that usually lasts about a week, with fever, tiredness, not wanting to eat, and headache. It can lead to skin infections, pneumonia, swelling of the blood vessels, swelling around the brain or spinal cord, and infections of the blood, bones or joints.
It is usually mild. It can be serious in babies under 12 months, teens, adults, pregnant women and people with a weak immune system. Some people need a hospital, and, though it does not happen often, people can die from it.
Some people who had chickenpox get a painful rash called shingles years later.
What the sheet says it does
Varicella vaccine can prevent chickenpox.
Most people who get 2 doses are protected for life.
What the sheet says about risks
Sometimes: a sore arm, redness or rash where the shot went in, or fever.
Very rarely: pneumonia, infection around the brain or spinal cord, or seizures, often with fever.
In people with serious immune system problems, the shot may cause an infection that may be life threatening. The sheet says they should not get it.
The shot
MenACWY. It covers four types of the germ, A, C, W and Y. A different shot covers type B.
What it is for
Meningococcal disease is rare and has gone down in the United States since the 1990s. The sheet also says it is a severe disease with a significant risk of death or lasting disability for people who get it. Babies under 1, people 16 to 23, and people with certain health conditions are more at risk.
It can cause meningitis and blood infections. The sheet says that even with treatment, 10 to 15 of every 100 people who get it die, and about 10 to 20 of every 100 who live have lasting problems, such as hearing loss, brain damage, kidney damage, loss of limbs, nervous system problems, or bad scars from skin grafts.
What the sheet says it does
MenACWY can help protect against meningococcal disease caused by types A, C, W and Y.
What the sheet says about risks
Sometimes: redness or soreness where the shot went in.
A small share of people get muscle pain, headache or tiredness.
A person with a minor illness, like a cold, may get a shot. A person who is moderately or severely ill should usually wait until they get better.
Every sheet but DTaP says people sometimes faint after a shot. Tell the office if you feel dizzy, have changes in your vision, or hear ringing in your ears.
If you see signs of a severe allergic reaction after leaving (hives, a swollen face or throat, trouble breathing, a fast heartbeat, dizziness or weakness), call 9-1-1 and get the person to the nearest hospital. For other signs that worry you, call the doctor.
As with any medicine, there is a very remote chance of a shot causing a severe allergic reaction, another serious injury, or death.
The CDC posts a schedule of the ages it recommends for each shot. It is a recommendation. What a school asks for is set by state law, and sometimes local rules.
The schedule on the CDC website today is the 2025 one. The federal government changed it in January 2026. In March 2026 a federal court put those changes on hold while the case goes on. The hepatitis B and meningococcal cards say what changed for those two shots.
The doses on this page come from each shot's own sheet. Ask the office which schedule it uses.
Source. The CDC schedule, The court's order of March 16, 2026
Before each shot, federal law says the office gives you the Vaccine Information Statement. That is the CDC's sheet on the shot's benefits and its risks. When a young child gets two or more of DTaP, Hib, hepatitis B, polio and PCV at one visit, the office may hand over one combined sheet for those instead. The law is 42 U.S.C. 300aa-26.
Source. law.cornell.edu, cdc.gov
For a child, the sheet goes to a parent, or to another person, like a legal guardian, whom state law allows to say yes for the child. The CDC says state medical consent law should decide who counts as a child. If a young person can say yes to a shot under state law, the CDC says the sheet should go to them.
Source. cdc.gov
The CDC says the sheet comes before every dose, even in a series, because health can change between doses. Each time, whoever says yes for the shot can look again and decide whether to go on.
Source. cdc.gov
The CDC says the sheet is not written as a consent form, though a state may let it be used as one. How consent is given, spoken or written, is set by state law.
Source. cdc.gov
The CDC's rules for the sheet say the office notes in the medical record that the sheet was given.
Source. cdc.gov
Each vaccine also has a longer label from its maker, called the package insert. The sheet says the FDA website has them.
VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is where a health problem after a shot is reported. The office usually files the report, or you can file it yourself online or at 1-800-822-7967. You can report even if you are not sure the shot caused it.
Source. cdc.gov, vaers.hhs.gov
A claim goes to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a federal no fault program. No fault means the person does not have to show anyone did something wrong. Generally they show the shot is one the program covers, and the injury is on the program's injury table or was caused by the shot. The person who got the shot, a parent or legal guardian, or after a death the person handling the estate, can file it with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The time limit is three years from the first sign of the injury, and the program lists every time limit. You can file it yourself or hire a lawyer. Phone 1-800-338-2382.
Source. hrsa.gov
The money around childhood shots, from the laws, the federal budget and the makers' own reports. Each line has its source.
In 1986 Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. The Supreme Court said it was meant to steady a vaccine market hurt by a rise in injury lawsuits, and to make payment easier for people injured by a shot.
Source. law.cornell.edu
For a shot the program covers, a claim for an injury or death from a shot given after October 1, 1988 goes to the federal injury program first. A family can sue the maker or the person who gave the shot for more than $1,000 only after the program's court has ruled and the family turns the award down, or after the family leaves the program as the law allows.
Source. law.cornell.edu
The law says a maker is not liable in court for an injury or death from side effects that could not be avoided, when the shot was properly made and came with proper directions and warnings. The warnings are presumed proper if the maker followed the FDA's requirements in all the ways that matter (the law's words: "in all material respects"), unless the family shows fraud or withheld information, or proves by clear and convincing evidence that the maker did not use due care.
Source. law.cornell.edu
In 2011 the Supreme Court ruled that the law blocks every claim that a shot's design was defective, when the claim seeks payment from the maker for injury or death caused by the shot's side effects.
Source. law.cornell.edu
The maker pays a federal tax of 75 cents a dose for each disease a taxed shot is for. An MMR dose is for three diseases, so its tax is $2.25. COVID-19 shots are not on the taxed list.
Source. law.cornell.edu
The tax goes into the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, which pays the program. On September 30, 2025 it held $4.66 billion. That year the tax brought in $131 million and interest $169 million, and $275 million went to HRSA, the agency that runs the program.
Source. fiscaldata.treasury.gov
As of HRSA's report of October 1, 2026, more than 30,322 claims had been filed since 1988. Of the 26,871 decided, 13,464 were paid and 13,407 were dismissed. The program has paid about $5.6 billion in compensation.
Source. hrsa.gov
HRSA says about 60 percent of the money paid came from settlements in which the government did not conclude the shot caused the injury. It also says that from 2006 to 2024 about 1 person was paid for every 1 million doses handed out.
Source. hrsa.gov
Through the Vaccines for Children program, the federal government buys shots and gives them at no cost to children who qualify, through enrolled doctors. Congress created it in 1993, after a measles outbreak from 1989 to 1991, when the CDC found cost was a main reason children had not had the shot.
Source. cdc.gov
The program automatically covers vaccines the committee recommends and CDC approves. CDC's budget shows $6.58 billion for it in fiscal year 2025 and $6.07 billion for 2026.
Source. cdc.gov, CDC budget
From each maker's own annual report to the SEC, worldwide and for all ages unless a line says otherwise. Makers report by product group, and some lines also include adult or travel shots; those are marked.
CDC sets the childhood schedule based on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Its charter: up to 19 voting members, chosen by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for terms of up to four years. The committee also sets which shots the Vaccines for Children program covers.
Source. cdc.gov
The charter also seats 33 groups that speak but do not vote, among them the American Academy of Pediatrics, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and Physicians for Informed Consent. The charter lists all 33.
Source. cdc.gov
On June 9, 2025 the Secretary of Health and Human Services removed all 17 members, and named new ones in June and September 2025 and January 2026. On January 5, 2026 a decision memo, not a committee vote, cut the number of childhood vaccinations recommended as routine for every child from seventeen to eleven, the eleven diseases in the 2026 bar. The others stayed on the schedule but not for every child: the memo lists hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal, flu and COVID-19 as a talk with the doctor, and the court order says the memo limited the RSV antibody, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningococcal shots to children at higher risk. CDC said they stay covered by insurance at no cost. On March 16, 2026 a federal court put on hold the thirteen new members, every vote they took, and the January 2026 schedule. CDC's site shows the July 2025 schedule as the current one.
Source. The court's order of March 16, 2026, The HHS memo of January 5, 2026, The CDC schedule
This part is the view of Eric Howell, who started Empowered Homefront. It is a view, not a fact from a source. The facts above each have a source, so you can weigh it.
“There are really good vaccines that save lives. But are they needed for the majority of the population just because? That is the big question. If there is no threat, no reason to think a threat is coming, and no proof that loading up ahead of time helps, then why do we give our youth so many?”
Who is paid when a family follows the schedule? The makers, through their sales. The injury fund, through a 75 cent tax per disease on each dose of most shots on the schedule. And for children who qualify, the federal program buys what the committee recommends and CDC approves.
Eric's view: every dose a family does not give is a sale a maker does not make, for most shots a tax the injury fund does not collect, and, for a child in the federal program, a shot it does not buy. That is where the money stops.
North Carolina's rule and every choice the law gives are on the Immunizations screen.
This is a summary of public law, not legal advice. Requirements change, so always check your state's own page before you rely on it.
Tdap. Sometimes: pain, redness or swelling where the shot went in, a mild fever, headache, tiredness, and nausea, throwing up, diarrhea or stomachache.
Tell the office first if you or your child
Doses the sheet lists
DTaP: 5 doses, at 2, 4 and 6 months, 15 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years. Tdap: 1 dose, best at age 11 or 12.
The sheet
DTaP sheet (August 6, 2021 edition)
Tdap sheet (January 31, 2025 edition)
Pregnancy, from the sheet
The sheet says not much is known about the risks for pregnant or breastfeeding women, but it can be given if a pregnant woman is at higher risk of infection and needs protection right away.
Doses the sheet lists
4 doses, at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years.
The sheet
Polio sheet (January 31, 2025 edition)
Doses the sheet lists
3 or 4 doses, depending on the brand, starting at 2 months and usually finished at 12 to 15 months. Children over 5 usually do not get it.
The sheet
Hib sheet (August 6, 2021 edition)
Doses the sheet lists
4 doses, at 2, 4 and 6 months and at 12 to 15 months.
The sheet
PCV sheet (May 29, 2025, interim edition)
Rarely: seizures, often with fever, or a low platelet count that goes away and can cause unusual bleeding or bruising. Platelets help blood clot.
In people with serious immune system problems, the shot may cause an infection that may be life threatening. The sheet says they should not get MMR.
Tell the office first if you or your child
Doses the sheet lists
2 doses, at 12 to 15 months and at 4 to 6 years.
The sheet
MMR sheet (January 31, 2025 edition)
A person may get a rash after the shot and could pass the vaccine virus on. Until the rash is gone, stay away from babies and people with a weak immune system.
Some people who got the shot get shingles years later. This is much less common than after having chickenpox.
Tell the office first if you or your child
Doses the sheet lists
2 doses, at 12 to 15 months and at 4 to 6 years.
The sheet
Varicella sheet (January 31, 2025 edition)
Tell the office first if you or your child
Pregnancy, from the sheet
The sheet says there is limited information on the risks for pregnant or breastfeeding women, no safety concerns have been found, and a pregnant or breastfeeding woman should get it if it is called for.
Doses the sheet lists
2 doses, at age 11 or 12 and a booster at 16. Also for college freshmen in dorms who have not had all their doses. Not from the sheet: in January 2026 the federal government limited this shot to higher-risk groups, or a choice made with the doctor. A federal court put that change on hold. The schedule on the CDC website today still lists these two doses.
The sheet
MenACWY sheet (January 31, 2025 edition)
Not listed: flu shots (yearly, kept out of the bars) and shots not counted in the bars (MenB, COVID-19, the RSV antibody).