Immunizations and Vaccines: The Power of Preparation

Immunizations, or vaccines as they're also known, safely and effectively use a small amount of a weakened virus or bacteria to prevent infection by that very virus or bacteria.

When you get an immunization, you're injected with a weakened form of (or a fragment of) a disease. This triggers your body's immune response, causing it to produce antibodies to that particular ailment.

Then, if you're ever again exposed to the actual disease-causing organism, your immune system is prepared to fight the infection with the antibodies it's formed. A vaccine may not completely prevent the onset of a disease, but it will reduce its severity.

Immunizations: Why Should I Get Them?

The goal of public health is to prevent disease. It's much easier and more cost-effective to prevent a disease rather than treat it.

Immunizations protect us from serious diseases and also prevent the spread of those diseases to others. Over the years immunizations have thwarted epidemics of once common infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, and tetanus. And because of immunizations we've seen the near eradication of others, such as polio and smallpox.

Some vaccines need to be given only once; others require updates or "boosters" to maintain successful immunization and continued protection against disease.

Which Immunizations Do My Children Need?

Because proof of immunization is often a prerequisite for enrollment in school or day care, it's important to keep your children up to date on their vaccines. The recommended immunizations for children 0-6 years of age include:

• Hepatitis B
• Rotavirus
• Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis
• Haemophilus influenzae type b
• Pneumococcal
• Inactivated poliovirus
• Influenza
• Measles, mumps, rubella
• Varicella
• Hepatitis A
• Meningococcal (for certain high-risk groups)

Each of these diseases at one time or another posed a serious health threat to children, taking their lives by the thousands; today most of these diseases are at their lowest levels in decades, thanks to immunizations.

It's important to keep your child's immunizations on schedule and up to date, but if your child misses a scheduled dose he or she can "catch up" later.The complete updated schedule of immunizations for children ages 0-18 can be downloaded from the CDC web site.

What About Immunization Side Effects?

Today vaccines are considered quite safe. As with any medication, they can have side effects, in most cases these are usually quite mild. Most common minor reactions to an immunization are:

• Soreness or redness around the injection site
• Low-grade fever

Side effects like these usually disappear in a few days. In extremely rare instances a high fever, in excess of 104 degrees, can occur with a vaccine.

Children have also been known to have serious allergic reactions to a vaccine. These usually happen very soon after getting the vaccine, and doctors' offices are well equipped to handle such reactions. If you think your child has or may have an allergy to any component in a vaccine, be sure to share that information with your doctor.

Medical providers generally agree that the proven preventive benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks of the minimal side effects associated with them. More information about vaccine side effects and precautions can be found in the CDC's brochure Parents Guide to Childhood Immunizations.