Summer is almost over which means kids are heading back to school. One of the most important ways to prepare your children for the new school year is to make sure they are up to date on their vaccines. You or your child can be immunized at many places including your SOMOS primary doctor’s office or at pharmacies or community clinics.
With August being National Immunization Awareness Month, we at SOMOS want to bring immunization to the top of every family’s to-do list. But many people ask, why is it important to immunize your child?
Here are the top reasons why immunization is important for you and your child.
- Vaccines can save time and money: Vaccine-preventable diseases like chicken pox and the flu can keep you and your child out of work and school for multiple days. This can cause students to lose valuable learning time. Also, the medical bills from treating these diseases are more than the price of a vaccine. If you think you may have trouble paying for a vaccine, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a program called Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program to offer children vaccines for free. To find out more about VFC, click here.
- Vaccines can save your child’s life: Vaccine-preventable diseases can also put your child’s life in danger. The development of safe and effective vaccines has helped eliminate or nearly eliminate diseases that once killed or injured thousands of children. Immunization helps parents to protect their children from contracting these vaccine-preventable diseases.
- Vaccines protect your family and friends: There are many reasons why a loved one may not be able to be vaccinated. They may be an infant who is not old enough to get vaccinated, a family member who is allergic to vaccines, or a neighbor with too weak of an immune system. By immunizing yourself and your family, you can help keep everyone in your community safe and prevent the spread of these diseases.
- Vaccines work: Vaccines are a safe and effective way to prevent the spread of diseases. The best example of this success can be seen with polio. Before the polio vaccine, at its height polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis every year in the United States alone. Today, the polio vaccine protects nearly all treated children from getting polio.
National Immunization Awareness Month is a great reminder of the importance of ensuring our children and families are fully vaccinated. Check out the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for more information. And visit your doctor to talk about the vaccinations you and your child should be getting this month.