Why is It Important to Get Vaccinations? Who Should Get Vaccinations?
Dr. Marissa Gomez-Martinez
DHR Health Edinburg CISD School Based Health Center
Vaccines play a key role in keeping us healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccinations throughout your life to protect against several infections, many of which have no medical treatments. When you skip vaccines, you leave yourself vulnerable to illnesses that can cause serious complications and even death. Getting vaccinated can help you, your family and your community stay healthy.
Vaccines are safe and effective. Before approval for use in the U.S., vaccines go through rigorous testing for safety and effectiveness by the Food and Drug Administration with continued monitoring by the CDC. Through vaccination, a small amount of “weakened or killed” virus causing the disease (antigen) is introduced into the body. The antigen is not strong enough to cause disease but rather triggers the body to produce protective antibodies, preventing infections and serious disease. The U.S. has been able to eradicate diseases such as smallpox with vaccines.
Vaccines help protect the community by preventing the spread of infection from person to person. When a majority of a community has protection against a disease, it decreases the levels of circulating infection and prevents outbreaks. This, in turn, helps protect those who cannot get vaccines, due to age or a medical reason. This is known as herd immunity.
Vaccines reduce healthcare costs by preventing debilitating diseases that lead to visits to healthcare providers, hospital stays and early deaths. They also prevent lost time from work due to personal illness or need to care for a sick loved one.
Immunizations can help prevent some infections that can lead to cancer. Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections are both linked to certain cancers. Vaccines can help prevent certain strains of both of these infections.
Who should get vaccinations?
All of us should get vaccines. Starting at birth and continuing throughout adolescence, children need to complete their primary series of each vaccine for optimal protection from serious illness and complications of vaccine-preventable diseases. Children have a mandatory schedule of vaccines that physicians follow to eliminate outbreaks of preventable diseases. Keeping up with your child’s immunization schedule also protects others you care about, including family members, friends, and grandparents.
As per the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, approximately 50,000 U.S. adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year. Many adults forget that they need vaccinations. It is just as important to continue to maintain an up-to-date immunization status as you age. People age 65 and older and those with comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and lung disease are at higher risk of complications from infectious diseases. As you get older, your immune system weakens, immunity can fade and it can be more difficult to fight off infections. The most important vaccinations adults and seniors should discuss with their physicians include the yearly flu vaccine (important now more than ever), pneumococcal vaccines to prevent pneumonia, shingles vaccines, HPV vaccine and tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine (Tdap). You can visit the CDC website to get a complete list of vaccines you, your child or a loved one needs.
Update on COVID-19 Vaccination
It can typically take 10 – 15 years to bring a vaccine to market, however several efforts are underway to help bring a COVID-19 vaccine to market in record time. The U.S. government’s “Operation Warp Speed” initiative and the World Health Organization (WHO) are coordinating efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccine as soon as possible.
Vaccines prevent infection, keep us healthy and save lives. We all have a public health responsibility to our community to protect ourselves and each other. Contact your primary care physician and talk about what you need to do to stay up-to-date on vaccinations specific for you and your family.
