Immunizations are important to infants' health

Good health is perhaps the greatest gift a parent can give a child, and vaccination is one of the most important ways a parent can protect a child’s health.

Vaccines are one of history’s most successful and cost effective public health tools for preventing serious disease and death.  Diseases that were once commonplace, such as polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, diphtheria, and rubella, are now only distant memories for most Americans.  Today there are few reminders of the suffering, disabilities, and premature deaths caused by diseases that are now preventable with vaccines.

We can prevent more diseases than ever before, yet despite recent gains in childhood immunization coverage, over one million of our nation’s two year olds are still missing one or more of the recommended immunizations.  Each day 12,000 babies are born who will need to be immunized against fourteen diseases before age two.

Parents and health care providers must work together to ensure that all children are fully immunized. Here are some of the ways parents can help.

n Make sure your child is up-to-date on immunizations.  The CDC publishes a childhood immunization to help you find out what immunizations your child needs.

n Get an immunization card or record, and bring it to every doctor’s visit.

n Ask at every visit if your child needs an immunization.

n Talk with your child’s doctor, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

n Ask your child’s doctor if your child is eligible to get free vaccines through the Vaccines for Children program.

We are fortunate in this country to have free and low-cost vaccination programs and the ability to protect children from fourteen diseases by immunizing them on time before they turn two years old. For more information, please visit www.cdc.gov or talk with your child’s healthcare provider.

n Lynda Metz is the director of community development at Bonner General Hospital.  The information and statistics in this article were provided courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control.  For more information, please visit www.cdc.gov.