Vaccination
Contents
Vaccination For Healthy Life
A vaccination provides a full or partial immunity to a disease.
- Why do i need vaccination?
- Vaccines recommendations are based on a variety of factors including:
- Age
- Overall health status
- Medical history.
- For example: As we age we become more susceptible to common infectious diseases, e.g flu, so the importance of receiving a proper influenza vaccine increases as you age.
- Vaccination and their use
- Vaccinations work by stimulating the immune system to combat infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. They familiarize the immune system with the infections agent(or some component of it) without triggering the disease itself. Vaccines may be targeted at selected population groups, typically those at greatest risk from the disease. Children are often immunized because they respond well to vaccines and in many cases childhood immunization provides a lifelong immunity. Before the age of five, children are recommended to receive immunization against polio, diptheria, tetnus, DTP, some types of Meningitis(HIB and Mmc), measles, mumps and rubella(MMR).
- Steps to take when you vaccinate
- Review the vaccine information sheets that explain the potential risks of each vaccine. Health practitioners are required by law to provide them.
- Talk to your doctor about whether certain reactions to vaccines can be controlled e.g fever may be prevented or reduced by taking acetaminophen before or after vaccine.
- Inform your doctor if your child has an allergic reaction to a vaccine.
- Ask the doctor about conditions under which you or your child should not be vaccinated. This might include being sick or having a history of certain allergic or other adverse reactions to previous vaccinations or their components, such as an allergy to eggs which are used to grow influenza vaccine.
- Vaccines research
- The National Institue Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic :diseases. NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies that have improved the health of millions of people in the U.S and around the world.
- www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/vaccine.htm
Immunization
- A decision to vaccinate is a decision to help protect individuals and entire communities from disease. When immunization program achieved high levels of community immunity the likelihood that an infected person will transmit the disease to a susceptible individual is greatly reduced. Immunization can save lives
Childhood And Adolescent Immunization Schedule Comprised by U.S government
Catch up Immunization Schedules
- The U.S. government has also set up Catch-up Immunization Schedules. Following is a table showing precise information about the former:
Why might some adults need vaccination?
- Some adults incorrectly assume that the vaccines they received as children will protect them for the rest of their lives. This is generally true, with some exceptions:
- &Newer vaccines were not available when some adults were children
- Immunity can begin to fade over time. As we age,we become more susceptible to serious diseases caused by common infections(e.g flu, pneumococcus).
Adult Vaccine Preventable Diseases
- The following is a list of diseases that can be prevented by immunization. Some immunizations are vital for most adults ,especially senior citizens. Others are appropriate for only certain people:
- Diptheria
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Herpes Zoster(Shingles)
- Human Papillomavirus(HPV)
- Infuenza
- Measles
- Mumps
- Meningococcal
- Pneumococcus
- Pertussis(whooping cough)
- Polio
- Rubella(german measles)
- Tetnus(lock jaw)
- Varicella(chicken pox)
- Especially serious disease for adults 65 years or older:
- Diptheria
- Influenza (flu)
- Pneumococcus
- Tetnus
- For further information visit www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/adult-vpd.htm
Vaccine Benefits
- Immunization has enabled the global eradication of small pox, the elimination of poliomyletis from the Western Hemisphere, and a major reduction in the incidence of other vaccine-preventable diseases.
- Unless a disease has been eradicated failure to vaccinate increases the risks to individuals and to society at large.
Possible Side Effects of Vaccination
- Vaccines can cause both minor and rarely serious side effects.
- Public awareness of and controversy about vaccine safety has increased primarily due to new evidence that in rare cases vaccination can cause autism. Despite concerns about vaccine safety, vaccination is safer than accepting the risks posed by the disease the vaccines prevent.
- For more information see: :www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046738.htm.
