Discover The Importance Of Having Your Vaccines Up To Date

Having your vaccines up to date is not only important for the person vaccinated, but it is also important for the whole community by preventing infections and thus increasing group immunity.

Why is it so important to have your vaccines up to date? Although some people are afraid of vaccines, their role is to protect us. Their injection into the body stimulates the production of antibodies which work to protect us against any future contact with external agents.

This way you avoid getting the infection or disease you were vaccinated against. It is one of the most important and beneficial health measures for the population. This is because vaccines prevent and control diseases that can have fatal consequences.

Why is it so important to have your vaccines up to date?

It is essential to be up to date with your vaccines. This is especially the case with young children, and it should continue throughout their lives. It is not only a question of protecting the person who receives the vaccine directly, but also those around him.

This is called group immunity, which can only be achieved by following the proper vaccination schedule. Thanks to vaccination, it has been possible to effectively control diseases such as:

• Smallpox
• Measles
• Poliomyelitis
• Diphtheria
• Hepatitis B

The success of these programs has been such that, thanks to exhaustive monitoring and the implementation of macro-vaccination campaigns, these diseases, which previously decimated entire populations, have been eradicated.

That is why it is vitally important that vaccines not be viewed as something that is done only when you are a child. Thereafter, a vaccination schedule should be put in place to keep them up to date in adulthood as well.

In this way, the immune system is stronger and epidemics of these diseases are avoided. According to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of vaccines prevents 2 to 3 million deaths per year.

Prevention is better than cure

It is essential that people understand and always keep in mind that it is easier and cheaper to avoid disease. Rather than then treating those who have not been vaccinated. This is possible by having his vaccines up to date.

Despite the fight against disease and the continuing research to provide vaccines to the entire world population, there are several discouraging reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These studies indicate that although progress has been made over the years, millions of people around the world are still not vaccinated or not regularly enough. This makes the complete eradication of diseases very difficult, because people do not have access to the vaccine.

There are clear differences between developed and developing countries. In the second case, vaccination against diseases very common in adults over 19 years of age is very low or almost non-existent.

How is the vaccination done?

The vaccines are given in a very simple way, usually by injections. Some, although rare, are made orally, such as polio, typhoid fever, cholera, and rotavirus.

Many vaccines are given in divided doses. Thus, for their effect to last for years, they must be injected several times. In fact, they all need to be done at a predetermined time in order to get an optimal response from the body.

Currently, several vaccines are successfully combined in a single application. This way, only one injection is needed, which makes application easier. This is already the case with the hexavalent vaccine, which offers protection against various diseases, such as:

• Diphtheria
• Whooping cough
• Tetanus
• Polio
• Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib)
• Hepatitis B

In most countries, immunization programs have been designed to keep vaccines up to date. These clearly indicate the vaccine, the dose and the age at which it should be given. As well as the period within which the boosters for each vaccine must be repeated again.

Likewise, with immunization schedules or programs, there should be no excuse for the population not to be protected, both individually and collectively. So now we know why it is so important to be up to date with your vaccines!