Catch up vaccinations

Catch up schedule 

  • In the table, use the column for the age of the child, but remember the table assumes a patient has not received any vaccines at all.
  • Remember the Primary Childhood Immunisation Schedule has changed for children born on or after 1st of October 2024. Check the child’s date of birth to determine which catch up schedule the child should follow.

 

Children born BEFORE 1st October 2024

Eight principles for catch-up vaccination for children born before 1st October 2024:
  1. Men C vaccine given before 12 months, provides protection for a child’s first year of life only
    When a child reaches the age of 12 months, they need 1 dose of MenC only, regardless of whether or not they received Men C vaccine in their first year of life.
  2. PCV13 vaccine given before 12 months, gives protection for a child’s first year of life only
    When a child reaches the age of 12 months, they need 1 dose of PCV13 only, regardless of whether or not they have received PCV13 in their first year of life.
  3. If the 6-month vaccines are late e.g. they were given at 9 months, there is no need to delay the 12 month vaccines
  4. If a child needs to catch up with both 12 and 13 month vaccines, they can be given at one visit
  5. Once a child reaches the age of 2, NIAC advises they no longer need PCV13 vaccine or MenB vaccine, even if they have never had these vaccines
    The exception is children with at-risk conditions who should be vaccinated.
  6. Once a child reached the age of 10, they no longer need HIB vaccine
  7. A child over the age of 1 year, needs a single dose of MenC up until MenACWY is given in school
  8. If a dose of MMR vaccine was given before the first birthday, either because of travel to an endemic country, the schedule in another country or because of a measles outbreak, the child needs 2 further doses. One dose at 12 months of age or older (at least 4 weeks after the 1st MMR vaccine), and the second dose given in junior infants’ class.

 

Children born ON or AFTER 1st October 2024

Eight principles for catch-up vaccination for children born on or after 1st October 2024:
  1. PCV13 vaccine given before 12 months, gives protection for a child’s 1st year of life only When a child reaches the age of 12 months, they need 1 dose of PCV13 only, regardless of whether or not they have received PCV13, one, two or 3 doses  in their 1st year of life.
  2. If the 6 month vaccines are delayed e.g. given at 9 months, there is no need to delay the 12 or 13 months vaccines.  NIAC now advise that the booster 6in1 vaccine recommended at 13 months visit can be given after a minimum interval of 4 weeks from the 3rd 6in1 vaccine, provided the 3rd 6 in 1 vaccine was given before 12 months of age.
  3. If the vaccines due at the 6 month visit are delayed to 12 months or more, the third dose of 6 in 1 vaccine should be given at the 13 months visit or as soon as possible.  The 4th 6in1, (which is recommended at 13 months in the schedule), should be replaced by the 4in1 vaccine (Tetravac). The 4in1 vaccine should be given after an interval of 6 months after the 3rd dose of 6in1 vaccine.
  4. Once a child reaches the age of 2, NIAC advises they no longer need PCV13 vaccine or MenB vaccine, even if they have never had these vaccines.   The exception is children with at-risk conditions who should be vaccinated.
  5. Once a child reached the age of 10, they no longer need HIB vaccine.
  6. If a child has missed the varicella vaccine, catch up is recommended up to age 18 years (there is no payment for administration of the vaccine in general practice from the age of 10 years).
  7. A child over the age of 1 year, needs a single dose of MenC up until MenACWY is given in school.
  8. If a dose of MMR vaccine is given before the first birthday, either because of travel to an endemic country, the schedule in another country or a measles outbreak, two further doses should be given at 12 months of age or older (at least four weeks after the first dose) and at 4 to 5 years of age (MMR/MMRV in Junior infants)

 

Download the GP toolkit for a print-friendly version of this information (size 208 KB).

Information for Healthcare Professionals on Catch-Up Vaccination: Children who have come to Ireland from other countries (1.1mb)

 

Interrupted immunisation courses

“If an immunisation course is interrupted, it should be resumed as soon as possible. It is not necessary to repeat the course, regardless of the time interval from the previous incomplete course*. The course should be completed with the same brand of vaccine if possible. * except cholera vaccine”. See Chapter 2 https://www.hiqa.ie/areas-we-work/national-immunisation-advisory-committee/immunisation-guidelines-ireland (you will be directed to the HIQA website)

Immunisation Schedules from other countries

If you are looking for information from other countries the following website from the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) https://vaccine-schedule.ecdc.europa.eu/  (you will be directed to the ECDC website)

  • gives all the vaccine schedules by EU country
  • provides a list of which countries use which vaccines
  • compares the schedule in Ireland with those another country

The following link can be used to look up immunisation schedules across the world https://immunizationdata.who.int/listing.html?topic=&location= (you will be directed to the Immunization Data website)

Translating records from other countries

The following links may be useful in translating immunisation records from other countries:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has translations of their Vaccine Information Statements (VIS) into many languages available at http://www.immunize.org/vis/?f=9 (you will be directed to the immunize.org website)

 

This page was updated on 25 November 2025