5 Reasons to Schedule Your Shots Today

Much like a car seat keeps your child safe in your vehicle, vaccinations help keep your child safe from disease. When the time comes to schedule your child’s vaccinations, consider these five reasons why they’re so important:

1. Vaccinations Save Lives

It’s no exaggeration. Diseases that once affected and even killed thousands of children have either been eliminated or are on the verge of extinction due to vaccines. These advances in medical science make it possible to trigger a child’s immune system to create antibodies against disease.

2. Vaccinations Are Safe and Effective

It’s far safer for a health professional to vaccinate your child than for him or her to be exposed to the disease in a natural, uncontrolled environment. Vaccines may involve minor discomfort, redness or tenderness. However, this is minimal in comparison to symptoms your child may experience when falling ill with a preventable disease.

3. Vaccinations Protect Others

Some babies with severe allergies or weakened immune systems may not be able to receive vaccinations. To keep them safe, it’s important that other children be vaccinated. The immune system of a vaccinated child will kill off the antigen and any possibility of spreading the disease to others.

4. Vaccinations Save Time and Money

A child who isn’t vaccinated may be denied attendance at schools or child-care facilities. If a child isn’t vaccinated and becomes infected with a disease, this could lead to disability, time off of work to care for the child, medical bills and even long-term care.

In comparison, the costs of vaccinations are usually covered by health insurance, or through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program at no cost for low-income families.

5. Vaccinations Protect Future Generations

The diseases that injured or killed people in the past no longer affect people today because of vaccinations. For example, smallpox no longer exists because so many children received vaccinations against the disease that it was unable to survive. The risk that pregnant women will pass the rubella virus to their newborn has drastically decreased because mothers receive the vaccination as children.

When we continue to vaccinate today, fewer diseases will remain to harm children tomorrow.