How are vaccines given?

Vaccines are given by different methods, but most are intramuscular injections or "shots" and "jabs". These are given in the muscle using a syringe and needle.

For infants and young children, the injections are usually given in the large muscle at the outer side of the thigh or in the muscle in the buttocks. As children get older, they develop enough muscle tissue in their arms to get their shots, like most adults do, in the Deltoid muscle of the upper arm. However, the clinician giving the vaccination will make a determination on the proper site in each individual, based on their physical development. Most teens have arms muscles developed well enough to give injections like adults get, in the Deltoid muscle.

There are more and more vaccines being produced for oral or nasal administration these days, too, and many clinicians choose these less traumatic and less invasive methods for their younger patients. Most vaccines are only given to infants over 6 months old since their immune systems are not developed well enough until that time to be able to have a proper response to the vaccines.