Vaccines and Immunizations
By: Nic
OUCH! Why do we need to get shots?! What do they do? Do they even help me? Are they even important?! In this flyer, you will learn why vaccines and immunizations are important, why we need them, and how they work. But first, what are vaccines and immunizations? A vaccine is a product that produces immuness to a disease. But what is an immunization? An immunization is where a person is made immune/resistant to an infectious disease. An immunization is a proven tool to prevent life threatening diseases.
Why are Vaccines and Immunizations important?
Vaccines and immunizations are very important. They help protect you from very dangerous diseases. Because of vaccines and immunizations, some diseases have been eliminated, or close to being eliminated and saved millions of lives.
Why do we need Vaccines and Immunizations?
If we didn't have vaccines or immunizations, what would happen? You could get infected with very dangerous diseases. For example: polio, tetanus, and diphtheria. But what does Polio, tetanus and diphtheria do to you? Tetanus is a very dangerous disease caused by Clostridium tetani bacteria which produces toxin that affects the brain and nervous system. Polio is also a very dangerous disease. It can cause paralysis, breathing problems, or even death! Diphtheria is also a very dangerous disease, it is caused by bacterium. Diphtheria is caused when the bacterium releases toxin or poison into a person's body which can cause coating that makes it difficult to breathe, and makes your throat hurt. "This coating is usually, fuzzy, gray, or black and can cause breathing problems and difficulty in swallowing."
We need vaccines and immunizations to keep you from getting diseases that have not been eliminated yet.
We need vaccines and immunizations to keep you from getting diseases that have not been eliminated yet.
How do Vaccines and Immunizations Work?
What vaccines and immunizations do, is help prevent you from getting sick. Vaccines and immunizations, help your immune system so they can fight off diseases. The first time you have a disease usually the antibodies system can't work fast enough to get rid of that disease. However, the antibodies remember that disease, if the disease ever enters the body again, (even if its been many years) the immune system can produce antibodies fast enough to keep it from harming you a second time. Children are born with an immune system composed of cells, glands, organs, and fluids located throughout the body.
Now that you have learned why we need vaccines and immunizations, what they are for, and, how they work, visit your doctor and see if you need to get vaccinated, and remember all the cool facts you learned about vaccines and immunizations.
To learn more visit: http://www.vaccines.gov/more_info/features/five-important-reasons-to-vaccinate-your-child.html
http://www.who.int/topics/immunization/en/ http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/howvpd.htm