August is National Immunization Awareness month, perhaps appropriately selected because children and teens are returning to school, older students are enrolling or returning to college, and senior citizens may even be thinking of the upcoming flu season.

Vaccines control and, in some instances, have eradicated many common infectious diseases that once ran rampant throughout our country, harming tens of thousands of people. In actuality, viruses and bacteria that cause vaccine-preventable diseases still exist for those individuals who remain unprotected. This may be because some people cannot be immunized for medical reasons, choose not to be or have their children not immunized due to safety concerns and still others whose religious beliefs don’t consider vaccination a viable alternative. However, maintaining high immunization rates protects that small community, as well as our entire nation. The results are, in my opinion, nothing short of astonishing.
[Read more...]