August 3, 2015
National Immunization Awareness Month August is National Immunization Awareness Month. This observance provides the opportunity to remind the community of the importance of immunization. Make sure that your family and friends are up-todate on their immunizations. In August, parents are enrolling children in school, older students are entering college and adults and the health care community are preparing for the upcoming flu season. This makes August a particularly good time to focus community attention on the value of immunization. Disease prevention is key to public health. It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat it. Vaccines can protect both the people who receive them and those with whom they come in contact. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in this country and around the world, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib). Vaccine eradicated smallpox, one of the most devastating diseases in history. Over the years vaccines have prevented countless cases of infectious diseases and saved literally millions of lives. Vaccine-preventable diseases have a costly impact, resulting in doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths. Sick children can also cause parents to lose time from work. Vaccines contain the same antigens or parts of antigens that cause diseases, but the antigens in vaccines are either killed or greatly weakened. Vaccine antigens are not strong enough to cause disease but they are strong enough to make the immune system produce antibodies against them. Memory cells prevent re-infection when they encounter that disease again in the future. Through vaccination, children develop immunity without suffering from the actual diseases that vaccines prevent.
National Immunization Awareness Month is a great time to promote vaccines and remind family, friends, and coworkers to stay up to date on their shots. How can National Immunization Awareness Month make a difference? We can all use this month to raise awareness about vaccines and share strategies to increase immunization rates with our community. Here are just a few ideas: • Talk to friends and family members about how vaccines aren’t just for kids. People of all ages can get shots to protect them from serious diseases. • Encourage people in your community to get the flu vaccine every year. • Invite a doctor or nurse to speak to parents about why it’s important for all kids to get vaccinated. To view immunization schedules for adults and adolescents visit: http://www.cdc.gov/ vaccines/schedules/index.html
Brought to you by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. / Source: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines