How do vaccines work? When disease germs enter your body, they start to reproduce and the body produces antibodies to destroy the germs that are making you sick. They can’t usually work fast enough to prevent disease symptoms, but help you get better and stay in your bloodstream for many years providing protection, or immunity, when you are exposed to the germ again. That is why getting diseases like measles and chickenpox prevents a person from getting those diseases again in the future. The problem is that a person has to get sick in order to get immunity. Some of these diseases cause severe illness or death, especially in very young children.

Vaccines are made from the same germs (or parts of them) that cause these diseases but are killed or weakened. They produce the same immunity as getting the disease, but a child (or person) does not have to get sick.

Immunizations work by strengthening the body’s own immune system. They do not “use up” or “overload” the immune system in infants or children. Infants and children are bombarded with germs every day in the air they breathe and the food they eat, and their immune systems can handle it. Immunizations use a very small part of an infant or child’s immune system and yet provide a large amount of protection against diseases that can cause serious illness or even death. These diseases are especially dangerous for infants. Immunizations should be started no later than 2 months of age and should be completed by 2 years of age with boosters being given at 5 years of age.

For more vaccine information, talk to your doctor, your local health department or call the Centers for Disease Control 24 hours a day at 800-232-4636.

(Provided by the Holmes County Health Department)