"Immunizations"
August has been designated as National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) by the National Partnership for Immunization (NPI). With the start of school, students leaving for college and the flu season approaching, August is the perfect time of year to get up-to-date with your immunizations.
When you get an infection, your body reacts by producing substances called antibodies. These antibodies fight the disease and help you to get over the illness. They usually stay in your system even after the disease has gone, and protect you from getting the same disease again. This is called immunity.
A child has immunity to certain diseases from the time of birth. This is a result of disease-fighting antibodies that have passed from the mother to the baby. After birth, breastfed babies continue to obtain additional antibodies from their mother's breast milk. The immunity the child is born with and the immunity the child receives from the mother's breast milk is only temporary.
Immunization is one of the best ways to protect your children against diseases that once killed millions in the US. Most of the viruses and bacteria that cause diseases are still circulating.
Vaccines are among the safest medicines available. Some common side effects are soreness at the site of the injection or low fever. As with any medicine, there is a small risk that adverse events could occur after getting a vaccine. However, the potential risks associated with the disease these vaccines prevent are much greater than the potential risks associated with the vaccines themselves.
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