Vaccine-preventable disease levels are at or near record lows. Even though most infants and toddlers have received all recommended vaccines by age 2, many under-immunized children remain, leaving the potential for outbreaks of disease. Many adolescents and adults are under-immunized as well, missing opportunities to protect themselves against diseases such as Hepatitis B, influenza, and pneumococcal disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works closely with public health agencies, like the Medina County Health Department, and private health care providers, to improve and sustain immunization coverage and to monitor the safety of vaccines so that this public health success story can be maintained and expanded in the century to come.
We don’t vaccinate just to protect our children. We also vaccinate to protect our grandchildren and their grandchildren. With one disease, smallpox, we “stopped the leak” in the boat by eradicating the disease. Our children don’t have to get smallpox shots any more because the disease no longer exists. If we keep vaccinating now, parents in the future may be able to trust that diseases like polio and meningitis won’t infect, cripple, or kill children. Vaccinations are one of the best ways to put an end to the serious effects of certain diseases.
All of our clinics offer immunizations for all ages. Please call us at 330-723-9688, option 1 to determine your insurance coverage or to discuss insurance needs. For a full list of immunizations for children and adolescents by age, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Immunization Schedules webpage.
Flu Season
Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every season, especially people at high risk.
When should I get vaccinated?
You should get a flu vaccine before flu begins spreading in your community. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies that protect against flu to develop in the body. CDC recommends that people get a flu vaccine by the end of October. Getting vaccinated later, however, can still be beneficial and vaccination should continue to be offered throughout the flu season, even into January or later.
Children who need two doses of vaccine to be protected should start the vaccination process sooner, because the two doses must be given at least four weeks apart.