The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has announced important changes to the Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations, which will be introduced from 2026. They have already undergone public discussion and received approval from the relevant authorities, writes IZ. It is expected that the innovations will be officially published after the registration procedure with the Ministry of Justice is completed.
One of the most significant changes is the inclusion in the Calendar of mandatory vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) for girls aged 12-13 . Vaccination will be free of charge and will be carried out at the expense of the state budget. Given that HPV vaccination is already part of the mandatory program in most European countries, this step is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of immunization in Ukraine.
A change in the vaccination schedule against viral hepatitis B is also proposed. According to the new recommendations , vaccinations will be carried out on a schedule of 2–4–6–18 months , which will allow the use of combination vaccines that will protect against several infections at the same time, reducing the number of injections and visits to the doctor.
Another change concerns the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination schedule. The second vaccination will be given to children at the age of 4 instead of 6 , which will allow them to be protected from these dangerous diseases more quickly.
It is also planned to change the timing of the BCG vaccination, which protects against tuberculosis. Now it is planned to be administered 24 hours after birth, instead of 3–5 days later . In addition, BCG vaccination will be carried out on children under 9 months of age without prior testing for tuberculosis , if there was no known contact with infected persons.
Igor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine and Chief State Sanitary Doctor, emphasized that these changes meet European standards and will help reduce the number of injections and doctor visits for parents. He added that this will allow for more effective protection of children from infectious diseases at an early age.
Recall that we previously wrote about the best age to have a child.
