August is National Immunization Awareness Month. Even though school may look different this year, vaccinating your children is more important now than ever. When the majority of people in a community are vaccinated, disease causing viruses and bacteria have fewer opportunities to infect someone and spread into an outbreak. Vaccines cause the immune system to build disease-fighting antibodies, which will recognize and kill the germs that cause disease if you happen to come in contact with it later on. 

If parents learn more about the benefits of vaccines and continue to schedule routine vaccinations, they and their children will be healthier and better off. Here’s what you need to know. 

1. Vaccines strengthen your child’s natural defenses against disease – and save lives in the process. 

It is important to vaccinate your children in accordance with suggested vaccination timelines because it helps deliver immunity to your child before they are likely to be subjected to disease. The use of vaccines has eliminated many infectious diseases that one time harmed or killed infants, children and adults. In fact, the CDC estimates that vaccines prevent 2.5 million deaths globally among children younger than five each year. 

2. Every vaccine on the market has been heavily tested and proven to be safe. 

Our current vaccine supply is the safest in U.S. history, as the FDA and CDC monitor vaccines even after they are approved for use. Vaccines have never been identified as a risk factor in the thousands of studies done over health conditions like heart disease, autism and cancer. Serious side effects are rare. It is possible your child might experience mild soreness or irritation at the injection site, but it normally goes away with in a few hours or days.

3. There are potentially fatal risks to not vaccinating your child.  

Although vaccines have eliminated some diseases in the U.S., many are still common in other countries and can be reintroduced. So, vaccinations are still necessary to protect your child in the event of an outbreak. For example, although the measles was declared an eliminated disease in 2000, a foreign traveller recently reintroduced it to the U.S., causing outbreaks in unvaccinated communities. Another vaccine-preventable disease, mumps, has recently caused outbreaks in Arkansas. 

4. All states have requirements for children to be vaccinated against certain diseases for school entry.

School looks different this year, but if your child is returning to in-person schooling, all states have requirements for children who are entering childcare or school to be vaccinated against certain diseases. For teenagers, some states also require students entering colleges and universities to be vaccinated against certain diseases like meningitis due to increased risk among college students living in residential housing. 

In Arkansas, no child will be admitted to a public or charter school who has not been immunized against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, red (rubeola) measles, rubella, mumps, hepatitis B, and varicella (chickenpox) 

As always, visit QualChoice.com for more information.

Sources: 

Lubna Maruf, M.D., medical director at QualChoice Health Insurance, is a graduate of Aga Khan Medical University in Pakistan and completed her residency at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has over 20 years of experience in internal medicine and health care administration