Besides buying notebooks, pencils and paper for this upcoming school year, you should make sure to save room for one more item on your back-to-school to-do list — getting vaccinated.
Vaccines are crucial to protecting you and your loved ones from potentially life-threatening diseases like the flu, measles and pneumonia. Vaccines are designed to help your body better prepare its immune system so it can effectively fight harmful pathogens that cause disease.
As effective as vaccines are on a personal level, they have also been proven to be most effective when used on a large scale; so, the more people that receive their vaccinations, the less likely they are to spread an illness. With a lower number of people spreading disease, they create a safer environment for everyone else. This form of community-wide immunity is also known as “herd immunity.”
Herd immunity is similar to how an animal herd protects its younger and weaker members by surrounding them with bigger and stronger members. In our case, the strong would be anyone who has received a vaccine and the weak would be those who cannot fight disease and cannot receive vaccinations (chemotherapy recipients, newborn babies, those with HIV, etc.). By surrounding the weak with the strong, the herd, our community, creates a barrier between the weak and the dangers of the outside world. Developing this barrier decreases the chances of the weaker members within the herd of getting hurt or sick. Similarly, by succeeding to get the majority of a community immunized, we can actively surround those who are susceptible to illness, and protect them from those who pose the threat of spreading it.
In order for herd immunity to be most effective, 95 percent of the community must be vaccinated. If not, then disease will spread faster. The figure included in with depicts what the conditions would most likely be if 95 percent of the population were to get vaccinated. The people in yellow represent those who are vaccinated, the people in blue represent those who are susceptible to disease, and those in red represent people carrying disease. Looking at the figure, you can see how the people in yellow surround those in blue and red and isolate them from each other. This is a prime example of how having our community vaccinated can protect and isolate weak individuals from the disease carrying ones.
Children and adults can get vaccinations at local doctors’ offices as well as medically certified pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. Adults can also get vaccinated at the Montgomery County Health Department. Besides vaccinations, we can help decrease our chances of spreading disease by educating friends and family on vaccines and encouraging others to receive their vaccinations each year. August is Vaccination Awareness Month, and with your help we can spread the word and make our community safe from harmful illnesses.
