National Immunization Awareness Month

National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) is an annual observance held in August to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages. NIAM was established to encourage people of all ages to make sure they are up to date on the vaccines recommended for them.

According to the CDC, Immunisation is one of the best ways you can protect yourself, your children and future generations from infectious diseases. If you vaccinate, you help wipe out a disease that could spread now and into the future.

Here are some quick facts about Immunization:

How does vaccination work? 

All immunizations work in the same way. The vaccination uses your body’s immune system to increase protection to an infection before you come into contact with that infection. In other words, it is like being infected by the disease without suffering the actual symptoms.

Who needs to be vaccinated? 

Almost everyone does!  There are some exceptions – usually people with a serious medical condition (for example, a weak immune system).

Vaccines won’t give you the disease they are designed to prevent.

The rumors are not true – you cannot “catch” the disease from the vaccine. Some vaccines contain a“killed” virus, and it is impossible to get the disease from them. Others have live, but weakened, viruses designed to ensure that you cannot catch the disease.

Vaccination can mean the difference between life and death

Vaccine-preventable infections are dangerous. Every year, approximately 50,000 US adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases in the US.

For more information, visit the Center For Disease Control.