Staying up to date on vaccinations is a safe and effective way to prevent serious disease. While many diseases are no longer common in the United States thanks to vaccines, these diseases still exist and can spread when people aren’t vaccinated. Every year, thousands of adults in the US become seriously ill and are hospitalized because of diseases that vaccines can prevent. Many adults even die from these diseases. By getting vaccinated, you can help protect yourself and others from serious, sometimes deadly, diseases.
National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) highlights the importance of getting recommended vaccines throughout your life. It’s even more important this year as we continue to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccines aren’t just for kids. The protection you received from vaccines as a child can wear off, putting you at risk for other diseases due to your job, lifestyle, travel, or health conditions. Whooping cough, flu, pneumonia, and shingles are common viruses adults still need to regularly protect themselves from. Ask your doctor about vaccines you may need for your age, health conditions, job, or lifestyle.
How Vaccines Work
When a new pathogen or disease enters our body, it introduces a new antigen. For every new antigen, our body needs to build a specific antibody that can grab onto the antigen and defeat the pathogen. A vaccine is a weakened, non-dangerous fragment of an organism that includes parts of the antigen. Vaccines work with your body’s natural defenses to help safely develop protection from diseases.
Some vaccines require multiple doses given weeks or months apart. This is sometimes needed to allow for the production of long-lasting antibodies and the development of memory cells. In this way, the body is trained to fight the specific disease-causing organism, building up memory of the pathogen so as to rapidly fight it if and when exposed in the future.
Newer vaccines may contain the blueprint for producing antigens rather than the antigen itself. Regardless of whether the vaccine is made up of the antigen itself or the blueprint so that the body will produce the antigen, this weakened version will not cause the disease in the person receiving the vaccine. Instead, it will prompt their immune system to respond much as it would have on its first reaction to the actual pathogen.
Herd Immunity
Vaccinating not only protects yourself, but also protects those in the community who are unable to be vaccinated. This is called herd immunity. Studies of measles in the pre-vaccination era led to the concept of the critical community size, which is the minimal size of the population below which a pathogen ceases to circulate. When herd immunity lowers the critical community size level, the low density of infected hosts causes extinction of the pathogen.
Herd immunity is important because there are people with underlying health conditions that weaken their immune systems (such as cancer or HIV) or who have severe allergies to some vaccine components who may not be able to safely receive certain vaccines.
No single vaccine provides 100% protection, and herd immunity does not provide full protection to those who cannot safely be vaccinated. But with community vaccination, these people will have substantial protection thanks to those around them being vaccinated.
Disease Eradication
Throughout history, vaccines have been developed for a number of life-threatening diseases. Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated thanks to vaccination campaigns: smallpox in humans and rinderpest in animals. Other diseases, such as poliomyelitis (polio), measles, mumps, and rubella, have been labeled as potentially eradicable with ongoing programs and vaccination campaigns.
Today, there are 16 vaccines that protect us against diseases that used to be prevalent in the US. Many of these vaccines are received as a child following the recommended CDC immunization schedule. Protection from childhood vaccines can wear off over time, making it important for adults to stay up to date with their vaccinations. The flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, hepatitis B, and HPV are all vaccine-preventable diseases that continue to cause long-term illness, hospitalization, and even death among adults.
Vaccine Safety
The US currently has the safest vaccine supply in its history. A number of safeguards are required by law to help ensure that vaccines are safe. Every authorized or approved vaccine goes through rigorous safety testing before it’s licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended for use by the CDC. The vaccine is also carefully monitored afterward to ensure its safety.
Before a vaccine is recommended for use, it’s tested in labs. The FDA uses information from these tests to decide whether to test the vaccine with people. During a clinical trial, a vaccine is tested on people who volunteer to get vaccinated.
Once a vaccine is approved or authorized, it continues to be tested. The company that makes the vaccine tests batches to make sure the vaccine works like it’s supposed to, is sterile and not contaminated, and that certain ingredients used during production have been removed. The FDA reviews the results of these tests and inspects the factories where the vaccine is made to help ensure both quality and safety.
Once a vaccine is recommended for use, the FDA, CDC, and other federal agencies continue to monitor its safety.
The US has one of the most advanced systems in the world for tracking vaccine safety. Like all medical products, vaccines can cause side effects which are typically mild and go away quickly. Several health organizations have created systems to help provide a full picture of vaccine safety. Side effect data is sent to these health systems for researchers to analyze.
Vaccine administration guidance is provided by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) which consists of public health professionals, including vaccine experts, scientists, and doctors. They meet three times each year to review available data on newly licensed and existing vaccines and discuss vaccine recommendations. Their final vaccine recommendations include:
From there, the CDC sets the immunization schedules, which are then approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The adult schedule is also approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
There are many vaccine myths questioning vaccine safety. The best source for correct information pertinent to you is your doctor. Share your questions and concerns with your doctor if you are unsure of vaccination recommendations.
Preventable diseases still kill thousands of people each year. Vaccination not only reduces the incidence of that disease, it helps provide protection for our society’s most vulnerable groups through herd immunity. If you have not received the full schedule of vaccines, are unsure of your vaccination status, or are in need of a seasonal vaccine, contact your doctor to make an appointment.