Steps to success: getting children vaccinated on time.

Many children are not being vaccinated on time, putting them at risk for serious illness. There are many contributors to the delays in vaccination that occur, but global practice improvements can be made to reduce the risk of missed vaccination opportunities. One of the most effective ways to ensure on-time immunization is to use combination vaccines, thereby reducing the number of injections, a primary cause of missed doses. Nurses often play a pivotal role in delivering vaccinations and, thus, can lead initiatives to improve on-time immunization in their practices.