August is National Immunization Awareness Month
Vaccines have the power to protect you and everyone around you from potentially harmful viruses. Many of these diseases can be prevented by getting vaccinated, hence eliminating the risk of being exposed to a virus that could spread throughout your community.
National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) is a platform to increase the public’s knowledge and understanding of the need to stay current on vaccinations. Vaccines have helped eradicate diseases and improve health outcomes throughout the country; however, there are still diseases that can cause serious harm. This month, we encourage everyone to make sure they are up-to-date on their vaccinations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thousands of American adults get sick each year from diseases that vaccines can prevent. For patients with asthma or COPD, vaccines are an important step in protecting their health from serious diseases like influenza and pneumonia.
Why Vaccinate?
Parents are often worried about the safety of vaccines, especially when it comes to administering them to their children. But on-time vaccination throughout childhood is essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. Vaccines are tested to ensure that they are safe and effective for children to receive at the recommended ages.
The Food and Drug Administration has strict guidelines to ensure that vaccines are safe and effective, and those who develop the vaccines must prove they are before they get approval.
The CDC recommends that children receive certain vaccines to protect them from potentially deadly diseases. These include measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); chickenpox; diphtheria; tetanus; whooping cough (pertussis); polio; influenza (flu); hepatitis A and B; rotavirus; meningococcal disease; pneumococcal disease; human papillomavirus (HPV); hepatitis B; human papillomavirus (HPV); meningococcal disease; pneumococcal disease.
Why is NIAM Important?
Vaccination protects our children
A child's immune system is still developing, and the diseases most likely to affect young children tend to be more severe than those that affect adults. For example, chickenpox can cause severe illness in adults, but it can be fatal in children.
Vaccination protects children from serious illness and complications of many diseases, including amputation of an arm or leg, paralysis of limbs, hearing loss, convulsions, brain damage, and death.
To Spread the Word that Vaccines are Safe
Vaccination is safe and effective. All vaccines undergo long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and the federal government to ensure they are safe. Vaccines work by triggering your immune system to develop antibodies that will protect you from future infections.
We have to debunk information online that vaccines cause developmental disabilities. There is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism or other developmental disabilities. Vaccines only contain parts of germs (called antigens) that cannot cause illness because they are either killed or weakened by the manufacturing process. These antigens trigger a protective immune response in the body so that if someone becomes exposed to the germ later in life, their body will recognize it as foreign and attack it immediately before it can make them sick or spread disease to others around them.
We Owe it to our Community
We all have a public health obligation to our communities to protect ourselves and others from potential health risks. By getting vaccinated, we eliminate diseases before they have a chance to spread.
The latest flu season has been a nightmare for many, with thousands of people getting sick and even some deaths reported. If you've been hit with the bug or want to protect yourself from it in the future, you should consider vaccinating against the flu.
Vaccinations are not only safe and effective but also critical for protecting yourself and others from potential health risks. By getting vaccinated, you not only eliminate diseases before they have a chance to spread but also help prevent other people from getting sick.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927017/
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-benefits.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niam/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/growing/images/global/CDC-Growing-Up-with-Vaccines.pdf