August is National Immunization Awareness Month (search #NIAM15 on Twitter for more), highlighting the importance of vaccinations from birth and throughout our lifetime. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), immunizations are one of the top 10 public health accomplishments of the 20th century.
Vaccines have contributed to a significant reduction in many childhood infectious diseases, such as diphtheria and measles. Some infectious diseases, such as polio and smallpox, have been eliminated in the United States because of vaccines. Because immunization programs of the 20th century were so successful, many of today’s parents have never seen many vaccine-preventable diseases and do not understand that the diseases can actually reemerge.
Vaccines are among the safest and most cost-effective ways to prevent disease.
“Parents should know that vaccines protect children from many serious illnesses from infectious diseases,” states Marion Gruber, Ph.D., director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “The risk of being harmed by vaccines is much smaller than the risk of serious illness from infectious diseases.”
When children aren’t vaccinated, they are at increased risk for disease and can spread illness to others in their day care or classroom, and in the community. This threatens babies too young to be vaccinated and people with weakened immune systems due to cancer or other health conditions.
By following immunization schedules for your child, from birth through college, you can provide your child with the best protection from serious diseases. Today’s vaccines can prevent children from 14 diseases that can be serious, even life-threatening.
Preteens and teens are at risk for disease like bacterial meningitis and human papillomavirus (HPV). 
Anyone can get meningitis, but teens and young adults 16 through 23 years old are at increased risk for meningococcal disease. Meningitis is a serious disease that can cause brain damage, hearing loss and can even be fatal. All children 11-12 years old should be vaccinated against meningitis – a booster shot is recommended at 16 years of age.
The HPV vaccine should ideally be given to pre-teen girls and boys at age 11 or 12, prior to sexual activity, to protect them later in life from certain kinds of cancer caused by HPV that can affect both women and men.
The need for vaccination doesn’t end in childhood. Vaccines are recommended throughout our lives based on age, lifestyle, occupation, travel locations, medical conditions, and previous vaccination history. Protection from vaccines received during childhood can wear off with time.
Did you know that your baby gets disease immunity from you during pregnancy?
If you are planning to become pregnant, try to make sure your immunizations are up-to-date prior to becoming pregnant. Some vaccines, such as measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), should be given a month or more before pregnancy. Other vaccines, like the flu shot, can be given before or during pregnancy. Pregnant women should receive a dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) during the third trimester of each pregnancy to protect their baby from whooping cough. New fathers, grandparents, siblings and care providers should also be up-to-date on Tdap in order to avoid spreading illness to the baby.
Everyone should receive an influenza (flu) vaccine every year prior to flu season. Adults should get the Tdap vaccine if they did not receive it as a child to protect themselves, and those around them, from whooping cough – especially for babies who are too young to receive the vaccine. A Td (tetanus, diphtheria) booster shot is recommended every 10 years. Adults over 65, and those under 65 who are at high risk, should talk to their health care provider about receiving the pneumococcal (pneumonia) vaccine.
For more information about the importance of vaccinations, or to see an easy-to-read vaccine schedule, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
