Key points
- The WHO schedule is a global framework for countries to build national schedules from — not a personal schedule, and not for direct use by health workers.
- From birth: BCG at birth, hepatitis B birth dose within 24 hours, and the polio, DTP, Hib, pneumococcal and rotavirus series in infancy (WHO summary, updated December 2025).
- In childhood and adolescence: measles (2 doses), rubella, HPV for girls aged 9–14 (1–2 doses), and a Td booster at 9–15 years.
- National schedules differ: the same vaccine is given at different ages in different places. Check your country's official schedule.
Direct answer: The WHO routine immunisation schedule covers vaccines from birth to older age: BCG and hepatitis B at birth, the infant series (polio, DTP, Hib, pneumococcal, rotavirus), measles and rubella in childhood, HPV at 9–14 years, and boosters and adult vaccines after that. It is a global framework that countries adapt into national schedules — not a personal schedule, and this page does not advise any individual.
What the WHO schedule is — and is not
The source for this page is WHO’s “Summary of WHO Position Papers, Recommendations for Routine Immunization”, Table 1, updated December 2025. The table itself states that its ages and intervals are to assist the development of country-specific schedules and “are not for direct use by health workers”; national schedules should be based on local epidemiology, programme, resource and policy considerations. That is the most important sentence on this page: the WHO schedule is a framework, and your country’s official schedule is what applies where you live. The Vaccination Directory on this site links to the official source for each country.
Birth and infancy
At birth, the WHO summary lists BCG (1 dose) and the hepatitis B birth dose, given as soon as possible after birth and within 24 hours, followed by 2–3 further doses. The birth dose matters because infection in infancy or early childhood leads to chronic hepatitis in about 95% of cases, against under 5% in adulthood (WHO hepatitis B fact sheet, 28 July 2026). In infancy come the polio series (2–6 doses, at least 2 doses of inactivated polio vaccine), the DTP-containing vaccine (3 primary doses plus 1 booster), Haemophilus influenzae type b (primary series in infancy; not recommended for children over 5), pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (2 primary doses plus a booster at 9–18 months, or 3 primary doses, depending on the schedule option), and rotavirus (2–3 doses depending on the product, with DTP; not recommended after 24 months).
Childhood and adolescence
Measles vaccine is given in 2 doses — the first at 9 or 12 months depending on local risk, the second per the national schedule — and rubella as 1 dose combined with measles, with 1 dose for adolescent girls and women of reproductive age if not previously vaccinated. HPV vaccine is given in 1–2 doses to females, targeted at girls aged 9–14; WHO’s cervical cancer fact sheet (3 July 2026) confirms the 9–14 age range and that some countries also vaccinate boys. The DTP series is topped up with a Td booster at 9–15 years. Yellow fever is 1 dose, given with measles-containing vaccine, in countries where it is on the schedule.
Adulthood and older age
The WHO summary also carries recommendations for adults: COVID-19 vaccination sits among the routine recommendations, with a 1-dose primary series and revaccination 6–12 months later for high-priority groups under the WHO SAGE roadmap. There is no single WHO “older adult schedule”: the summary notes vaccination in older adults for pneumococcal vaccine and DTP boosters, and WHO’s influenza position paper (May 2022) lists older adults as a priority group for seasonal influenza vaccination. The CDC adult schedule for the United States — which differs from the WHO framework — has its own guide on this site.
Other vaccines in the summary
The December 2025 summary also covers vaccines used in specific places and situations: typhoid conjugate vaccine (1 dose); tick-borne encephalitis (3 doses, from age 1 or 3 depending on the product); dengue vaccine TAK-003 (2 doses, ages 6–16, in high-transmission areas); and RSV — either 1 dose of maternal vaccination in the third trimester, or 1 dose of long-acting monoclonal antibody to the newborn. The summary’s Table 3 also gives recommendations for interrupted or delayed routine immunisation; this site does not build a catch-up calculator from it — delayed schedules exist, and national guidance governs them. The child-immunisation page on this site takes the children’s part of this schedule — birth to adolescence — as its own dedicated page, with the coverage figures and the links back here.
Frequently asked questions
Does this page tell me which vaccines I need?
No. It summarises the WHO global framework. Your country's official schedule is what applies to you — find it through the Vaccination Directory on this site.
Why do schedules differ between countries?
Because national schedules are built from local disease patterns, programme capacity, resources and policy. WHO states its ages and intervals are to assist development of country-specific schedules.
What is the hepatitis B birth dose?
A dose given as soon as possible after birth, within 24 hours, followed by 2–3 further doses. WHO recommends it for all babies; infection in infancy leads to chronic hepatitis in about 95% of cases.