Keeping Kids Healthy: Why Immunizations Matter

By Emily Bush, MD, Pediatrician

As any parent will tell you, there are countless ways to raise children. Some strategies work well for one child but may not work as well for another. The approaches we use to help children grow and thrive can even change from one day to the next. However, some habits are always in children’s best interests, such as ensuring access to healthy, nutritious foods, maintaining regular sleep schedules and good sleep hygiene, and allowing plenty of time for play and exercise.

One of the most effective ways to keep children healthy is to keep them up to date on immunizations. Health Partnership Clinic remains committed to keeping patients healthy by helping them stay current on vaccines recommended based on age, occupation or other circumstances, such as underlying health conditions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines immunization as the process of gaining protection against a disease. While the term is often used interchangeably with vaccination, vaccines are the tools used for immunization. They are designed to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases. Vaccines are usually given as an injection, but some are administered in other forms. For example, the rotavirus vaccine is given orally to infants at two and four months.

Vaccines protect against many dangerous, preventable diseases, including varicella (chickenpox), influenza (flu), hepatitis, measles, mumps, meningococcal disease, pneumonia, shingles, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio. They not only protect individuals and their families but also help prevent the spread of disease to people who are unvaccinated or unable to receive certain vaccines, such as infants or those who are immunocompromised.

Vaccines prevent serious illnesses that once caused significant disability or death in earlier generations. For example, polio paralyzed many people less than a century ago, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Introduced in 1955, the polio vaccine helped eliminate the disease in the United States by 1979.

The end of the school year often brings reminders about vaccine requirements for certain age groups. Staying up to date on required vaccines is important, but recommended vaccines are just as critical for protection against disease. For example, the HPV vaccine is a safe and highly effective way to prevent infection with certain types of human papillomavirus, which can cause several cancers and genital warts. The CDC recommends that nearly everyone age six months and older receive an annual flu vaccine, typically administered in the fall before the start of flu season for optimal protection.

To help keep your child protected and up to date on recommended vaccines, schedule an appointment by calling Health Partnership at 913-648-2266.