1. Vaccines have saved lives for over 100 years – but serious disease is still a threat
Vaccines have greatly reduced diseases that once routinely injured or killed babies, children and adults. People around the world—including in the United States—still get seriously ill or even die from diseases that vaccines can help prevent. It is important that you stay up to date on recommended vaccines.
The protection that some vaccines provide may fade over time, and you may need additional vaccine doses (boosters) to maintain protection. For example, adults should receive a tetanus booster every 10 years to protect against infection from dirty wounds. Talk to your healthcare provider about vaccination to see if you might have missed any vaccines or need a booster.
2. Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from preventable disease
Did you know that vaccines are the best way to protect yourself from certain preventable diseases? Vaccines help your body make protective antibodies – proteins that help it fight infections.
By getting vaccinated, you can protect yourself and also avoid spreading preventable diseases to other people in your community. Some people cannot get certain vaccines because they are too young or too old, or they have a weakened immune system or another serious health condition. These people are less likely to get a preventable disease when you and others around them are vaccinated against it. Help protect yourself and the people you love by staying informed recommended vaccinations.
3. Vaccines can prevent serious illness
Some vaccine-preventable diseases can have serious complications or even lead to later diseases. For them, vaccination provides protection not only against the disease itself, but also against the dangerous complications or consequences it can cause. Some examples:
- Seasonal Influenza (Influenza) is a respiratory virus that afflicts tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. The annual flu vaccine helps you avoid infection and reduces your chances of being hospitalized or dying if you do get infected. Flu vaccine also protects you from flu-related pneumonia and flu-related heart attack or stroke — complications that can affect anyone but are especially dangerous for people with diabetes or chronic heart or lung disease.
- Hepatitis B is a serious, potentially fatal infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). There is no cure, but vaccination prevents HBV infection as well as the chronic liver damage and cancer that hepatitis B can cause.
- human papillomavirus (HPV) is a leading cause of cervical cancer and can cause other cancers in both women and men. HPV vaccine prevents you from becoming infected with the virus or passing it on to others, protecting you and them from the immediate effects of the virus as well as from the various cancers it can trigger.
4. The vaccines you receive are safe
Vaccine safety is a high priority. The CDC and other experts carefully review safety data before recommending any vaccine, and then continually monitor vaccine safety after approval.
Vaccines can have side effects, but most people experience only mild side effects – if any – after vaccination. The most common side effects are fever, tiredness, body aches, or redness, swelling, and tenderness where the shot was given. Mild reactions usually go away on their own within a few days. Serious or long-term side effects are extremely rare, and vaccine safety is continuously monitored.
5. Vaccines may be required
Certain vaccines are required for school, work, travel and more. Students, military personnel and residents of rehabilitation or care centers must be vaccinated against diseases that circulate closely. Healthcare workers and others whose jobs put them at risk of catching and spreading preventable diseases must be vaccinated against them.
And of course vaccination is required before traveling to many places around the world. Because vaccination protects you and those around you, vaccines may be required for everyday activities as well as for extraordinary situations. It is important that you stay up to date on recommended vaccinations.
