All that you need to know about immunizations and vaccines

Vaccines or immunizations as they are referred to safely and effectively utilize a small quantity of an impaired or killed bacteria or virus or bits of laboratory produced protein that correspond to the bacteria in order to avoid disease by that similar bacteria or virus.

When you receive a vaccination, you are injected with a fragment or a decreased form of an infection. This activates the immune response of your body and causes it to either develop antibodies for a particular ailment or stimulate other processes that improve immunity.

After that if you are again vulnerable to the real ailment -causing organism, your immune system is prepared to combat that illness. An immunization will generally prevent the attack of a disease or else decrease its intensity .

Why should you get vaccinations?                               

The objective of public health is to prevent illness. It is simpler and more cost efficient to prevent an infection than curing it. That  is exactly what vaccinations aim at to do.

Vaccinations protect you from severe health conditions and prevent the spread of those infections to others as well. Vaccinations have defeated epidemics of once popular contagious diseases including whooping cough, measles and mumps over the years. You might have noticed the near eradication of epidemic diseases such as small pox and polio because of immunizations.

There are a few vaccines that need to be injected only once; other immunizations need updates or ‘boosters’ to keep the successful vaccination and continue prevention against infection.

Which vaccinations do your children require?

It is crucial to keep your children up to date on their immunizations as proof of vaccinations is often a requirement for enrollment in day care or school. If you get your children vaccinated, your children will be protected against infections that could cause them serious health problems. The suggested vaccinations for children up to six years of age include:

• Rota virus
• Hepatitis B
• Haemophilus influenza type B
• Diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus
• Polio virus
• Measles, mumps, rubella
• Influenza
• Hepatitis  A
• Meningococcal

Each of the diseases controlled by these immunizations posed a serious health risk to the children at one time or another. Today most of the infections have become ineffective in decades, thanks to the vaccinations.

Maintaining good vaccination records

It is essential to maintain exact records of vaccinations as well as any reactions to the immunogens. Your child will require that records in life for day care school, college, employment or travel.

• Know when you must schedule each immunization and put a note for a reminder on the calendar.
• Have your physician check your child’s vaccination record with you every time you visit him/her.
• Put the immunization record in a protected place and never try to throw sir away.
• If your child is six years old or younger and have not received all of his/her shots, you need to find out which one is needed.

Immunization safety

You may worry that your child should not be injected vaccination when your child is ill. You can have a word with your physician if you have fears about the vaccination timing. It is possible to get several vaccines at the same time and it is safe as well.