Are You Traveling This Summer? Make Sure Your Kids Are Up-to-Date on Their Immunizations

When school’s out and vacation is in, making sure your kids have their vaccinations is essential for a healthy summer. After all, it’s never a good idea to go on vacation without everything you need, including safeguards for your child’s health.

To help with this, our staff of experienced professionals at The Center For Advanced Pediatrics provides vaccines and vaccine guidance to parents in and around Norwalk and Darien, Connecticut. Here’s what we’d like you to know about vaccines and why they’re important for kids.

How do vaccines work?

Your immune system is your body’s security system against infection and illness. You can think of a vaccine as an upgrade to that security system: It exposes you to a dead or weakened microbe, which triggers the creation of proteins customized to fight it off. This can keep you from getting sick. 

Some vaccines’ effectiveness naturally weakens over time, requiring a vaccinated person to get a booster shot to maintain their immunity. Boosters are administered the same way as previous doses of a vaccine –– usually via syringe, but some vaccines are taken orally. 

Understand that no vaccine offers perfect protection. You may have already heard stories of vaccinated people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. However, a vaccinated person whose immune system is already prepared to fight the disease has a dramatically lower risk of developing a serious illness or dying. Vaccines also make you less likely to pass a contagious disease to others. 

Despite the progressive and health-forward state of vaccines today, the history of vaccines is wrought with corruption, with some “vaccines” doled out to Black and Indigenous communities, causing long-term, irreparable harm. 

Though this devastating part of our history is difficult to face, vaccines have been proven effective across global human populations, eradicating numerous debilitating or deadly diseases, including polio and measles.

Why is mass vaccination important?

Mass vaccination leads to an overall strengthened immunity to any disease, preventing microbes from multiplying and leading to mutations. Mutations are changes to the virus or bacteria that cause the illness. The more that a microbe is allowed to reproduce, the more likely it is to mutate. 

Mutations can make microbes resistant or impervious to conventional treatments and cause them to spread more easily. This not only endangers the life of an infected child, for example, but also children in close quarters with other children, and their family members.

However, by consistently utilizing vaccines, safety equipment, and other medicinal and protective measures, we can control and eventually neutralize highly contagious and dangerous diseases.

Who needs vaccines?

Particularly after the disastrous public health crisis of 2020, you may already understand that your health is your family’s health. You and your children will need to get vaccinated every couple of years for the rest of your life. The notion may be daunting, but remember that the tiny increments of time spent getting vaccinated is a layer of strong protection for yourself, your family, and your community. 

Children and senior people are most vulnerable to contagious diseases, relative to healthy adults between 18 and 65. In light of the aforementioned public health crisis, the COVID-19 vaccine is recommended for every eligible person. The Food and Drug Administration has just approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children under 5, and our office recommends it. 

Which vaccines are important for children?

Even when away from schools and daycares, known breeding grounds for illnesses, children are still susceptible to contagious illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention release a vaccine schedule, complete with annual updates. Your pediatrician at The Center For Advanced Pediatrics will know which vaccines your child needs. 

While you may be tempted to skip a vaccine or dose of a vaccine regimen, the providers at The Center for Advanced Pediatrics strongly encourage child caregivers to make every vaccine for which your child is eligible a priority.

The only worry you should have when it’s time for your vacation should be catching your plane, and our professional staff is ready to assist your children and your family. Call one of our offices today, or book an appointment with your provider online.