Immunizations play an important role in keeping your family and your community healthy. Vaccinations are important, because they not only protect the person who is receiving the vaccine, but they also help to keep diseases from spreading to others such as your family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers, and other members of the community. Immunization helps protect those who are the most vulnerable to illness, such as infants, elders, and those with weakened immune systems.

Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools available for preventing disease and death. In the United States, vaccines have greatly reduced infectious diseases that once routinely caused severe illness and death. According to the CDC, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic approximately 50,000 adults died every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses. 

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about getting vaccinated. 

Why is it important to get vaccinated? 

Because getting vaccinated is safer than getting sick!

Vaccines help the body learn how to defend itself from disease without the dangers of a full-blown infection. The immune response to a vaccine might cause tiredness and discomfort for a day or two, but the resulting protection can last a lifetime.

Infections are unpredictable and can have long-term consequences. Even mild or symptom-less infections can be deadly. For example, most people infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) never show any sign of infection. But for some, the sign appears years later as an aggressive, life-threatening cancer. By then, it’s too late to get vaccinated.

How do vaccines work in my body?

Vaccines work by imitating an infection

Vaccines work by imitating an infection—the presence of a disease-causing organism in the body—to engage the body’s natural defenses. The active ingredient in all vaccines is an antigen, the name for any substance that causes the immune system to begin producing antibodies. In a vaccine, the antigen could be either

• Weakened or killed bacteria or viruses
• Bits of their exterior surface or genetic material, or
• Bacterial toxin treated to make it non-toxic.

How many doses of a vaccine will I need? 

Many Vaccines Require More Than One Dose

A single dose of vaccine provides only partial protection. The number of doses needed to achieve immunity depends on whether the antigen in a vaccine is alive or not. Because they contain living bacteria or viruses, live-attenuated vaccines can provide enduring protection with only two doses. By contrast, non-live vaccines typically require at least three doses to achieve protection that fades over time and must be restored with booster doses.

Live-attenuated vaccines

• Offer long-lasting, even lifetime protection.
• Could cause a life-threatening infection in someone with a weak or suppressed immune system.
• Require two doses to achieve maximum immunity.
• Examples include the chickenpox vaccine and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) combined vaccine, which children should receive around their first and fifth birthdays.

Non-live vaccines

• Protection fades over time.
• Safer for people with weak immune systems.
• Require three or more doses to achieve maximum immunity.
• For example, the DTaP vaccine requires repeated doses to achieve and maintain protection from diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough):
• Infants receive doses at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 18 months of age.
• Children get one booster dose around the time they first enter school and another when they begin middle school.
• Adults should get a tetanus booster once every 10 years or during each pregnancy.

Certain vaccines must be updated periodically to protect against mutation-prone viruses that cause waves of infections months or years apart. To stay protected, people must get the updated vaccines even if they got an earlier version.

• The seasonal flu vaccine is reformulated each year to target the four strains expected to be most common and most dangerous.
• The updated COVID-19 vaccines were developed to deal both with fading immunity and a fast-evolving virus.

Everyone Should Get Recommended Vaccines on Schedule

History shows that vaccines are the safest, most effective way to protect yourself and your family from many preventable diseases.

Everyone should get all recommended vaccines at the recommended times. It is especially important for children and adolescents to get catch-up doses of any missed vaccines or vaccine doses as soon as they can. Adults should get all recommended vaccines for their age or other risk factors such as health condition or occupation. All adults should get tetanus boosters, seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccines, and any vaccines missed in childhood.

What is the overall benefit of a vaccine?

Vaccines Strengthen the Body’s Natural Defenses

To be immune is to be partially or fully resistant to a specific infectious disease or disease-causing organism. A person who is immune can resist the bacteria or viruses that cause a disease, but it is very important to remember that the protection is never 100% perfect.

Please note that you are always encouraged to talk to your doctor, nurse, or healthcare professional first regarding any immunizations you may be interested in getting. It’s important to ensure that you and your family are protected against serious diseases by getting caught up on routine vaccinations. No vaccine is 100% effective, but it is the first step in protecting yourself, your family, and others from serious illness. 

Sometimes you are unsure of what immunizations you may need: Please click on the links below for adult and child quizzes that will help you talk to your healthcare provider.

The Adult Vaccine Assessment Tool

Child and Adolescent Vaccine Assessment Tool - Birth through 18 years of age

*All information obtained and referenced from the CDC and US Border and Customs Protection Websites.

Vaccination is one of the most convenient and safest preventative care measures available. Adults need vaccinations based on their age and health conditions. Some health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease, increase a person’s risk of severe illness from vaccine-preventable infections.

Without vaccinations, you and your loved ones are at a greater risk of catching a vaccine-preventable disease, including the following:

• Chickenpox
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
• Influenza
• Measles
• Meningitis
• Pneumonia
• Polio
• Shingles
• Tetanus
• Whopping Cough

With cold and flu seasoning coming up, here's a homemade immune booster from Wellness Committee member Tonya Moken-Goswick.

Fermented Garlic and Honey

Ingredients:

3 head of garlic or pre-peeled garlic cloves

1 jar of honey

Directions:

-Take 3 heads of garlic and break apart

-Peel all of the cloves

-Cut all the loaves in half (you don't have to do this, but I like to because it's smaller pieces for my kids to eat and the allicin in the garlic will release into the honey. You can also just bruise the cloves by hitting them a jar)

-Put all of the garlic in a mason jar or any sealable container

-Now fill the jar with honey so the garlic is covered

-Put the lid on the mason jar and shake it up

-Store in a dark place for 4-6 weeks (I use my pantry)

-After 4-6 weeks (my family prefers 6 weeks so the garlic isn't as spicy) put in your refrigerator so it will last longer. It will stay good for months and months in there!

-Eat a piece of garlic or a teaspoon of honey every day for preventative measures. The pieces of garlic provide more benefits but part of the mixture is beneficial.

-When trying to kick a cough or sickness eat a piece 3 times a day for a few days

Note: You have to "burp" the garlic and honey every day. This just means take the lid off, let the air out and put the lid back on. You will do this everyday or every other the first 2-3 weeks.

You can make smaller amounts, the ratio is not exact, as long as the garlic is covered by the honey you are good.

Did you know that a mother that breastfeeds for one year puts in about 1800 hours of time to do this? This is almost a full time job with vacation time!

Many mom’s that are choosing to breastfeed, are choosing to feed their baby the way they feel is best. They are also putting in many hours to be able to. Between nursing and the time it takes to pump, clean the pump part, and finding space in the freezer for the milk, it’s not just a time commitment, it’s a financial commitment and often a full family commitment as well. Society is starting to catch up, but educating all generations is something that still needs to be worked on. 

Mother’s that are choosing to breastfeed, sometimes find that their child was not given the breast milk that they sent with the child, when the mother needs to be away from their baby. While you may not agree with how the parents are choosing to feed their newborn or toddler, you also don’t know how the little one will react to a sudden diet change. Many infants do not react well to the switch or to certain types of formula. You also have to factor in intolerances and allergies, while allergies can show when solely drinking breast milk as well, the mother can change her diet to eliminate the allergen where formula you might have to go through a few types to find the correct one for that baby.

If you are unsure how to warm the frozen or thawed breastmilk, just ask the parents, it is very similar to formula. The average person will think “it’s not a big deal the baby had a few bottles of formula,” but what you are missing is the amount of time and energy the mother put into making that one bottle. An average pump session for many women is a total of 1-5 ounces depending on time of day, hydration, and food intake, while the little one could be drinking that much or more per bottle. 

Being a parent is an amazing journey! Remember to respect the parents decision to feed the baby how the parent chooses and follow it. Help the parents have one less worry now that they are new parents (again).

Center For Family Services Cigna Health, we believe that staying on top of your health is vital. Each month, we’ve compiled a variety of resources so that you have quick, easy access to tips and information.

• 4 million deaths worldwide are prevented by childhood vaccination every year.
• More than 50 million deaths can be prevented through immunization between 2021 and 2030.
• Immunization protects health, communities, and economies from vaccine-preventable disease threats.

Getting vaccines at the recommended time is the best way to protect against serious diseases, if you are behind on routine vaccinations, contact your health care professional, and consider getting vaccinated as soon as possible.

For additional resources, click on the links below:

Immunizations – The Basics

CDC 2024 Immunization Schedule