DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjams.2025.v13i11.018

Pages: 1906-1912

Infectious diseases account for one of the highest burdens of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide: they remain an essential cause of death in children <5 years of age and contribute substantially to the global disability-adjusted life years burden in children and adolescents aged 5–14 years. Understanding the immune ontogeny in childhood reveals particular immunological characteristics and windows of susceptibility and resilience. Vaccination is a cornerstone of worldwide public health programs and creates herd immunity, reducing the risk of infection in non-vaccinated individuals. Moreover, the administration of vaccines has effects beyond the specific pathogen against which the vaccine is administered, including the stimulation of the entire immune system in infancy, long-term effects on the immune system, and non-specific immune benefits. Nevertheless, specific groups of children premature infants, those with chronic diseases, immunosuppression, and the immunocompromised may have altered immunological maturation, impaired immune responses, or respond poorly to vaccination. Ethical, legal, and policy aspects relevant to vaccination in the pediatric population must also be considered. The available evidence for these different aspects of infectious disease and vaccination in the pediatric population is systematically reviewed to provide a useful reference summary. Discussion of pediatric infections is, evidently, replete with statistics on the associated morbidity and mortality. Available data indicate that vaccines are effective in highly vulnerable populations, such as HIV-infected children, children from low-income or middle-income countries, and children with immune-mediated conditions receiving immunosuppressive therapies. Attention from researchers and practitioners extend further than the infectious diseases themselves: questions abound concerning the immunocompromised, children living with chronic diseases, or preterm infants’ populations for whom