Important Vaccines That You May Not Know About

A child ideally receives their first set of vaccinations by the time they start kindergarten. They commonly receive vaccinations against all three Hepatitis virus, diphtheria, tetanus, Type-B flu, Polio, mumps and measles. Many schools want to see these vaccination reports before admitting your child.

Some Lesser-known Vaccines

However, there are several other important vaccines that could be valuable for your child. Let’s take a look at some of these-

· Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine – Not very long ago, parents used to send their kids off to play with other kids infected with chicken pox. It was thought that catching the disease young was much better than suffering from it later in life. Nowadays, we understand that getting the vaccine is much safer than contracting the disease. It may come with serious complications such as bacterial infections and pneumonia.

· Rotavirus vaccine – Rotavirus can lead to severe diarrhea in infants and young children. It often causes vomiting and fever. It can also cause dehydration and lead to death, if untreated. It is highly contagious in nature. Millions of children around the world die from rotavirus and millions more are hospitalized every year after being infected with the virus.

· Hepatitis A vaccine – The Hepatitis A virus can cause Hepatitis A which is an acute liver disease. Symptoms include fatigue, stomach pain, nausea and jaundice. These usually last from a few weeks to several months.

· Meningococcal vaccine (MCV) – Meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial illness. It can cause meningitis and bloodstream infection. It is possible for children to get infected by living in close quarters, sharing utensils, kissing or inhaling the secondhand smoke of a person infected with meningococcal disease.

· Human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) – HPV is a common virus passed through genital contact. While some strains of this virus are self-contained, others can cause problems like cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers in women and penile cancer in men. It can cause anal and throat cancer and genital warts in both men and women.

· Tdap Booster – These are combination booster shots to protect adults and children against three diseases that used to be very common in the US before these vaccines were developed – diphtheria ( a serious infection affecting the nose and the throat), tetanus ( a bacterial disease that affects the body’s nervous system) and pertussis (commonly called whooping cough which is an extremely contagious disease of the respiratory system.

Conclusion

The vaccines listed above have proved to be a public health success story helping numerous people avoid severe illness and even death. They all have their individual side-effects which are most often mild in nature and heal of their own.

So, if you have a young one you are planning to take for their shot of vaccines or even an adolescent at home who hasn't been administered these vaccines before, consider giving them shots of the above. As the age-old adage goes – it is better to be safe than sorry. Don't you agree?

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