Childhood Vaccines
Source: MedlinePlus Health Topics, U.S. National Library of Medicine
What are vaccines? Vaccines are injections (shots), liquids, pills, or nasal sprays that you take to teach the immune system to recognize and defend against harmful germs. The germs could be viruses or bacteria . Some types of vaccines contain germs that cause disease. But the germs have been killed or weakened enough that they won't make your child sick. Some vaccines only contain a part of a germ. Other types of vaccines include instructions for your cells to make a protein of the germ. These different vaccine types all spark an immune response, which helps the body fight off the germs. Your child's immune system will also remember the germ and attack it if that germ ever invades again. This protection against a certain disease is called immunity. Why do I need to vaccinate my child? Babies are born with immune systems that can fight most germs, but there are some serious diseases they can't handle. That's why they need vaccines to strengthen their immune system. These diseases once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. But now with vaccines, your child can get immunity from these diseases without having to get sick. And for a few vaccines, getting vaccinated can actually give you a better immune response than getting the disease would. Vaccinating your child also protects others. Normally, germs can travel quickly through a community and make a lot of people sick. If enough people get sick, it can lead to an outbreak. But when enough people are vaccinated against a certain disease, it's harder for that disease to spread to others. The entire community is less likely to get the disease. This is called "community immunity." Community immunity is especially important for the people who can't get certain vaccines. For example, they may not be able to get a vaccine because they have weakened immune systems. Others may be allergic to certain vaccine ingredients. And newborn babies are too young to get some vaccines. Community immunity can help to protect