Each year's flu vaccine is a different gamble: a combination of the three influenza strains that scientists believe are most likely to circulate that year. But the odds could improve.

When the H1N1 influenza blew through in the flu season of 2009-2010, some worried about an additional flu vaccine to get. Pregnant mothers who got jabbed may have helped their babies.

Watching your child whimper in pain can break your heart, so pediatric visits for immunizations can stress out the whole family. But there are ways to reduce the pain without meds.

Measles has typically remained rare in the U.S., unlike the years before the vaccines when children died each year from it. But 2011 was different: measles cases quadrupled in the U.S.

Children getting their second dose of the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine, with or without the chicken pox vaccine, don't need to worry about getting seizures from high fevers.

HPV is among the most common sexually transmitted diseases and can lay groundwork for developing cervical cancer. But even women who have had HPV disease can benefit from the vaccine.

One of the easiest ways to prevent more than five different kinds of cancers is to get vaccinated for HPV - but doctors may not be vaccinating boys as frequently as they should be.

Parents concerned about multiple-vaccine shots can rest easier knowing shows one common combination shot is as safe as single vaccines and safer than skipping the vaccine altogether.

Another vaccine may be on the horizon to protect against additional forms of bacterial meningitis - and it appears to get along with other vaccines too.

The updated 2012 recommended vaccination schedules for children and adolescents has been released by the American Academy of Pediatrics.