Child Immunization
Schedules
Child immunizations have contributed to a substantial reduction in vaccine-preventable diseases, from polio and measles to whooping cough and the flu. In some cases, certain diseases have all but disappeared due to immunization, but they have the potential to return in epidemic proportions. Immunizations protect many people, including future generations.
How Childhood Vaccines Work
A weakened form of the germ is injected into the body, which causes the body to produce antibodies to fight off the germ. If the actual germ attacks the body after having the vaccine, the antibodies will still be present to fight them off, lessening or eliminating the harmful effects of the disease.
Why Are Immunizations Important?
Disease prevention is a large component of public health. Immunizations prevent disease in the vaccinated individual, and also protect them from infected people they come into contact with. Without immunizations, there would virtually be no control over infectious diseases like polio, measles and whooping cough.
It is especially important for young children to be immunized because their immune systems are not as developed as an adult immune system, and it is harder for children to fight off diseases. Due to the popularity of immunizations, children today are exposed to fewer infectious diseases that were common just a few decades ago.
Child Immunization Schedules
For your convenience, below you will find the 2008 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Additional Immunization Information
For additional information on vaccines and immunizations, please contact your pediatrician or family doctor. Don't have a pediatrician? Find a Shady Grove Adventist Hospital pediatrician today!