Vaccinations and Immunizations

Vaccinations are a primary means by which we immunize, or protect, ourselves against certain diseases. Vaccinations are a critical aspect of the nation’s commitment to public health. Your Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville physician can help you and your family keep up-to-date with the recommended vaccinations for each age group. 

What Are Vaccinations? What Are Immunizations?
Vaccination refers to the medical process of immunizing or protecting one’s self against disease. When confronted with a pathogen or disease agent, your body produces antibodies and other chemical substances to fight that disease. These substances remain in your system after the disease has succumbed, only to be reactivated when you come into contact with a similar pathogen in the future. 

Vaccinations build on this natural process of immunization by introducing a weak version of the disease into your body, typically through shots. Though this version is typically too weak to be harmful, its presence alerts your immune system to produce antibodies, protecting you against future attacks. In a sense, a vaccination tricks the body into creating a defense against a particular disease, without one going through the trouble of getting sick in the first place. 

Benefits of Vaccinations
There are two major benefits to vaccinations: improved personal health and improved public health. The latter benefits each individual as much as the former, because we all share in the cost of large-scale outbreaks of disease (called epidemics). 

Vaccinations have played an important role in reducing or eliminating a number of diseases in recent decades, some of them debilitating or life-threatening, all of them harmful and unpleasant. Included are measles, mumps, hepatitis B, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough). Widespread immunizations have led to steep declines in the incidence of polio and smallpox, which, until recently, were worrisome medical realities. 

Recommended Vaccine Schedule
Medical researchers have developed vaccines and vaccination guidelines for a number of major diseases. Each guideline is a recommended schedule of immunization shots by age group. Children receive the majority of vaccinations.

However, adults also need to protect themselves against infections and stay caught-up on certain vaccines, including varicella (chicken pox), tetanus, pertussis, shingles, and influenza (“the flu”). Childhood illnesses, such as mumps and measles, can cause serious problems in adults.

Newborn Vaccines
Children should receive their initial vaccinations as infants or toddlers (age two or younger). The following vaccinations are included in the immunization guidelines:
Recommended Vaccinations for Infants

• Chickenpox (varicella)
• DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis)
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• HIB (Haemophilus influenzae b conjugate)
• MMR (measles, mumps, & rubella)
• PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate)
• Polio
• Rotavirus
• Seasonal influenza

Children’s Vaccines
Vaccinations are scheduled throughout childhood (to age 18). By receiving immunization shots and boosters, parents can shield their children from several serious illnesses:

• Recommended Vaccinations for Children
• Chickenpox (varicella)
• DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis)
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• HIB (Haemophilus influenzae b conjugate)
• HPV (human papillomavirus)
• Meningococcal
• MMR (measles, mumps, & rubella)
• PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate)
• Polio
• Rotavirus
• Seasonal influenza

Adult Vaccines
Adults (age 18 or older) receive vaccinations when they’ve missed them as children or when they belong to groups at higher-than-normal risk for certain diseases:

• Recommended Vaccinations for Adults
• Chickenpox (varicella)
• DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis)
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• HIB (Haemophilus influenzae b conjugate)
• HPV (human papillomavirus)
• Meningococcal
• MMR (measles, mumps, & rubella)
• PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate)
• Seasonal influenza

Common Vaccine Reactions and Side Effects
Vaccinations have been highly effective in controlling disease but they’re not perfect. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that childhood vaccinations work between 90 and 100 percent of the time. 

Vaccine side effects are uncommon and, when they occur, typically mild, consisting of low-grade fevers and soreness at the needle penetration point. In rare cases, a vaccine recipient may experience an allergic reaction.