Childhood Vaccinations: Know The Routine What every parent should know about the vaccines that keep children (and adults) safe from disease. | Knowing The Difference | | Although the terms vaccinate (vaccination) and immunize (immunization) often are used synonymously, strictly speaking they are not interchangeable. Immunize means "to render immune." One way to do this is to vaccinate, which means to give a vaccine to produce protection (immunity). Vaccination is considered active when the body of the person who receives it responds to the vaccine by making antibodies against the pathogen. But immunity against infectious diseases also can be produced in other ways, such as being given pre-formed antibodies (immunoglobulin) against a particular disease (called passive immunization) or developing natural immunity when personally exposed to that disease. | | One hundred years ago, approximately half of all children born in the United States died by the age of 5, many of them of diseases that today can be prevented with vaccination. By 1979, the dreaded smallpox had been wiped out entirely, thanks to a worldwide vaccination effort. Vaccination has eliminated polio in the Western Hemisphere and it has nearly eliminated measles in the United States. With each vaccine developed, more lives are saved and millions of children and families are spared needless suffering. In recent years, a small but highly vocal group of people has been claiming that the side effects of these vaccines may be worse than the diseases they are meant to prevent. Articles quoting these anti-vaccine claims may have led some parents, grandparents and other caregivers to wonder whether vaccines are worth the supposed risks. A vaccine is never licensed and recommended unless it is considered safe and its benefits far outweigh any perceived risks. For a vaccine to be included on the annual Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule for the United States, it must first be approved by three organizations: the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Scientists and physicians in these organizations carefully weigh the risks and benefits of newly developed vaccines, monitor the safety and effectiveness of existing vaccines, and track cases of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Last updated January 28, 2002
| 
