What is Immunization?
When you get sick, your body generates antibodies to fight the disease and help you get better. These antibodies stay in your body even after the disease has gone, and protect you from getting the same illness again. This is called immunity. You don't have to get sick to develop immunity; you can be given a vaccine.
Babies, for example, are immune to many diseases because they have antibodies they have gotten from their mothers. This immunity does not last and wears off during the first year of life. Fortunately, there is something we can do to keep our children immune – we vaccinate them.
Vaccines are made from weak or "dead" versions of the viruses or bacteria that cause disease. Some of these vaccines are given as needles or shots, and others as drops to be swallowed. Vaccines trick your body so that it thinks it is being attacked by a disease. Your body's response: it produces antibodies that remain in your system. If you are exposed to the actual disease, you will be protected.
Other names for immunization are: needles, baby shots, vaccines and/or vaccinations.
Most of us are familiar with childhood vaccinations like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), but vaccines aren't only for children. They can protect adults from serious diseases like tetanus and influenza (the flu).
Since the introduction of vaccines, many serious illnesses have been brought under control. Paralytic polio, for example, has been eradicated from the Western hemisphere, and smallpox no longer threatens the global population.
Babies, for example, are immune to many diseases because they have antibodies they have gotten from their mothers. This immunity does not last and wears off during the first year of life. Fortunately, there is something we can do to keep our children immune – we vaccinate them.
Vaccines are made from weak or "dead" versions of the viruses or bacteria that cause disease. Some of these vaccines are given as needles or shots, and others as drops to be swallowed. Vaccines trick your body so that it thinks it is being attacked by a disease. Your body's response: it produces antibodies that remain in your system. If you are exposed to the actual disease, you will be protected.
Other names for immunization are: needles, baby shots, vaccines and/or vaccinations.
Most of us are familiar with childhood vaccinations like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), but vaccines aren't only for children. They can protect adults from serious diseases like tetanus and influenza (the flu).
Since the introduction of vaccines, many serious illnesses have been brought under control. Paralytic polio, for example, has been eradicated from the Western hemisphere, and smallpox no longer threatens the global population.
Immunization can protect you from:
- blood infection
- diphtheria
- ear infection
- Haemophilus influenzae type b
- hepatitis A
- hepatitis B
-
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
-
influenza
- measles (red measles)
- meningitis
- mumps
- pertussis (whooping cough)
- pneumonia
- polio
- rubella (German measles)
-
tetanus (lockjaw)
- varicella (chicken pox)