IMMUNIZATION INFORMATION

  • The immunization schedule followed by our office is the one recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
  • Exceptions and modifications to this schedule are not recommended, as alternate schedules are not proven to be effective in protecting against these vaccine-preventable illnesses 

What are Vaccines?

  • Vaccines can prevent certain serious or deadly infections. They are a way of teaching your body how to fight the germs that cause infections. Thanks to vaccines, many fewer people get seriously ill or die from infections than in the past.
  • Vaccines usually come in shots, but some come in medicines you swallow. When a person gets a vaccine, this is called "vaccination" or "immunization."

How do Vaccines Work?

  • To understand how vaccines work, it helps to understand what happens when you get an infection. Infections are caused by germs, such as bacteria or viruses. When a germ gets into your body, it multiplies (makes copies of itself) and attacks your cells. This is what makes you sick. Your "immune system," or infection-fighting system, recognizes that the germ should not be there. In response, it starts to make proteins called "antibodies" to fight the germ.
  • There are different types of vaccines. They all work by causing your body to make antibodies, like it would if you had an infection. This prepares your immune system to fight off germs if you come into contact with them in the future.
  • Some vaccines come in just 1 dose. Others require 2 or more doses to fully protect you from infection. After you get a vaccine, it usually takes a couple of weeks before you are fully protected. This is because it takes time for your immune system to make the antibodies.

Why Should I Get Vaccinated?

  • Getting vaccinated can help keep you from getting certain infections. If you do get an infection, being vaccinated can also keep you from getting severely ill.
  • In some cases, being vaccinated also helps protect other people around you. For diseases that can spread from person to person, the goal of vaccines is to get to "herd immunity." Herd immunity is when enough people are immune to a disease that it can no longer spread easily. To get herd immunity, lots of people need to get vaccinated. This helps protect people who cannot get vaccinated for some reason.

Are Vaccines Safe?

  • Yes. Before a vaccine is approved for use, it has to go through a specific process to test it for safety. This involves running "clinical trials" with lots of people who volunteer to try the vaccine. During these trials, researchers study how well the vaccine works and how many people had side effects. The results are reviewed by doctors and other experts who do not work for the drug companies that made the vaccine. These experts must agree that the vaccine is safe and effective enough to be given to the public.

Do Vaccines Cause Side Effects?

  • They can. Often, vaccines cause no side effects, but sometimes, they do. When side effects happen, they can include:
  • Redness, mild swelling, or soreness where you got the shot
  • Mild fever
  • Mild rash
  • Headache or body aches
  • These side effects do not mean that you are sick, just that your immune system is responding to the vaccine.
  • Vaccines also sometimes cause more serious side effects, such as severe allergic reactions. But serious side effects are rare.

Vaccine Myths Debunked

Vaccines work 

The number of people who got childhood diseases, like measles or whooping cough, went way down after vaccines for those diseases became available. When there is an outbreak of one of these diseases, it mostly affects people who did not get the vaccine. Sometimes, a person who was vaccinated does get an infection. But when this happens, their illness is usually milder than it would have been if they didn't get the vaccine.

Vaccines do not make you sick

In some cases, vaccines can cause mild side effects like a fever. But these side effects are temporary, and they do not mean that the vaccine gave you an infection.

It is not better to get immunity "naturally" 

It's true that actually having an infection can protect you from getting it again in the future. But it's not a good idea to try to get infected on purpose for this reason. Even if you are in good health, it's possible to get very sick or even die from some infections. You could also spread the infection to other people who are at risk of getting seriously ill.

Vaccines do not contain toxic ingredients

Some people worry about certain ingredients found in some vaccines, such as aluminum. The amount of aluminum in vaccines is so tiny that it cannot harm you, and is much less than what you are exposed to in day to day life.

Vaccines do not cause autism

After doing many careful studies, scientists have not found any link between vaccines and autism. Many years ago, 1 very small study said there was a link between autism and vaccines. But that study turned out to be false.  This has been studied many times since, and no correlation between vaccines and autism has been established.