When Should Your Family Get Vaccinated?
Planning ahead for your health starts with a good health insurance policy, but an important part of any healthy lifestyle is a full course of vaccinations. Vaccinations can prevent an illness before it even happens, and thanks to vaccines, diseases like Polio and Mumps are extremely rare. Vaccinating your family is extremely important, and can prevent school system outbreaks and death, so today, we’re going to take you step-by-step through the age groups so you know when to vaccinate (and why).
From Infancy to Adulthood
The most important part of a human being’s physiological development is also the most important time to have them vaccinated. Children are the future, and without vaccines, they could be exposed to many life-threatening, completely preventable illnesses. During this period, your doctor will likely recommend and administer the vaccines listed in the official recommendation schedule.
Vaccination during this period is essential not just to your child’s personal health, but to the health of the general public. If a single unvaccinated child brings something to school, the disease can spread more quickly and aggressively than you might expect. If your child is 11 or 12 and hasn’t received the vaccines listed above, call your doctor for recommendations on how to proceed. If your child is simply starting their vaccines a month or two late, you can refer to the catch-up schedule. An affordable health insurance plan can go a long way to making this process as simple as possible.
Young Adulthood
Many young adults find themselves constantly surrounded by other people. Between class, work, and errands, you come in contact with an extraordinary number of people, and if you’re not vaccinated, you’re in danger. Four vaccines are commonly recommended, but two (Tdap and HPV vaccinations) are typically given to children earlier in life. If you’ve had those, seek out a yearly seasonal flu vaccine and talk to your doctor about the meningococcal conjugate vaccine, especially if you live on-campus.
Adulthood and Seniority
After age 19, you’ll be on another vaccination schedule, much like the schedule we looked at earlier. Protecting against a wide range of other illnesses, your adult vaccination schedule is essential to keeping you healthy in the long-term. Refer to the recommended schedule for more specific information, and talk to your doctor today about getting started.
After this round of schedules vaccines, things become much simpler. Moving into seniority, you’ll only need a handful of vaccines each year, covering things like Influenza, Shingles, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whooping Cough, and Pneumonia. In the advanced stages of life, most of these diseases can be life-threatening in the wrong situation, so it’s important to vaccinate consistently.
Pregnancy and Travel
Your doctor will always know best which vaccines you should be given at different stages of life, but those stages of life aren’t always dictated by age. Pregnant women can benefit greatly from having certain vaccines during and after pregnancy, increasing the chances that both the mother and child will stay healthy.
When travelling, similar precautions should be taken. If you’re missing your measles vaccine, you need it before you travel anywhere or risk bringing it back to the states. When deciding what other vaccines you’ll need, work with your doctor and travel medicine provider to determine what is needed. Preparation might not be the best health insurance money can buy, but it’s leaps and bound better than getting mumps, measles, and more.
