August 2024
August 8, 2024 -National Immunization Awareness Month
National Immunization Month is celebrated every August to highlight how important vaccines are in preventing diseases at various stages of life.
According to the CDC, the difference between vaccination and immunization is that vaccination: is the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease while immunization: is a process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination.
There are many diseases that are preventable with routine vaccines.
Here we have 14 listed such as:
1. Polio
2. Tetanus
3. Flu
4. Hepatitis B
5. Hepatitis A
6. Rubella
7. Hib
8. Measles
9. Whooping Cough
10. Pneumococcal Disease
11. Rotavirus
12. Mumps
13. Chickenpox
14. And Diphtheria
These diseases can cause serious illness and, in some cases, can lead to death. The best way to protect yourself is through vaccination. This month is also a reminder that vaccines fade overtime, so additional vaccine doses, or boosters are needed to maintain protection. An example of a booster dose would be a tetanus every 10 years.
While there are misconceptions about vaccines, vaccines are generally safe. Individuals are more likely to be harmed by vaccine-preventable illness than receiving the vaccine. For example, the measles vaccine is estimated to have prevented over 21 million deaths between 2000-2017. Without vaccines, diseases such as measles, diphtheria, and polio, that have been eradicated in so many countries, will likely come back.
Vaccines also have a long history, some notable events include:
• In 1796, English doctor Edward Jenner created the world’s first successful vaccine by finding that people who were infected with cowpox were immune to smallpox. It was later endorsed by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and President Thomas Jefferson in 1806
• In 1885, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist successfully prevents rabies by post-exposure vaccination
• 1918-1919 the “Spanish Flu” pandemic kills 1 in 67 US soldiers, causing the US military to make an influenza vaccine a priority
• 1971 the MMR vaccine is created by Dr. Maurice Hilleman by combining the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines into a single vaccination
• 2019 the World Health Organization prequalifies an Ebola vaccine to be used in countries that are at high risk
• And in 2021 World Health Organization calls on Member States to prioritize vaccination for healthcare workers and at-risk groups to stop severe disease and death, keep healthcare workers safe, and to reopen society
The Lynn Public Health Division hosts a flu vaccination clinic every fall to help mitigate the spread of the flu.
Last year, we administered 691 flu vaccines by hosting city-wide clinics, at-home visits, first responder sites, and community members who walk into our office.
This year, we will be hosting two city-wide vaccination clinics at: Breed Middle School on October 17th and Marshall Middle School, October 24th.
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