Your child's vaccination schedule, made simple

Vaccination is one of the few things in medicine that reliably prevents disease before it starts. Between them, childhood immunisation programmes are estimated to save 3.5 to 5 million lives every year, and they have driven diseases that once killed or disabled huge numbers of children - smallpox, polio in most of the world, diphtheria, Hib meningitis - to the margins or out of existence entirely.

The catch is that this protection is not permanent or automatic. Most of these diseases still exist somewhere, and several - measles and whooping cough in particular - come back quickly wherever vaccination rates fall. Measles is so infectious that around 95% of a community needs to be immune to stop it spreading. This is why schedules include booster doses, and why keeping uptake high protects not just your own child but newborns, children having cancer treatment, and others who cannot be fully vaccinated themselves.

Pick your country and you will see its complete official schedule from birth to the mid-teens, laid out by age. Each vaccine entry explains, in ordinary language, what the vaccine is, which diseases it prevents, and why it is given when it is. Enter your child's date of birth for a personalised version that shows what has been done, what is next, and estimated dates for everything still to come - which you can send to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook with a reminder a month ahead or on the day.

Child Vaccine Tracker does not give appointments and does not hold its own list of clinics. Every country page links to that country's official "find a vaccination service" tool, and vaccinations are always booked and given through your local service - your GP surgery, child health clinic, paediatrician, pharmacy or school immunisation team, depending on where you live.

Each schedule is built from the country's official government immunisation programme and cross-checked against at least two more independent sources - a national public-health agency, a paediatric professional body, or the ECDC Vaccine Scheduler. Every source is listed on the country's page and on our about page. An automated job re-checks every source link on the first of each month and flags changes for review, and each page shows the date it was last verified.