Welcome to the fall issue of The Lowdown, an educational resource focused on promoting resident and healthcare worker health and safety. This edition focuses on the importance of vaccination in preventing disease. Vaccine development and vaccination is considered one of the most important discoveries in medicine that has saved millions of lives! As healthcare workers and infection preventionists, we need to utilize this tool and educate others on its importance. Remember: It is much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it—or the infections that may result from it! Happy reading!
The Importance of Vaccines to Keep You Healthy
Vaccines exist for 29 dangerous or deadly diseases. Over the years, these vaccines have prevented countless cases of disease and saved millions of lives. However, the diseases for which we have vaccines have not gone away. The viruses and bacteria that cause illness and death still exist and can be passed on to those who are not immunized.1,2
Vaccines decrease the chance of getting a disease by working with the body’s immune system to create antibodies against that disease. Vaccines will NOT cause the disease they are designed to prevent, as they contain either killed or weakened (i.e., attenuated) versions of the virus or bacteria.1,2
Defining the Terms2,3
Immunity: Protection from an infectious disease. This occurs when there are antibodies to that disease in a person’s system. If immune, that person can be exposed to the disease without becoming infected.
- Active Immunity: When exposed to a disease organism (“germ”), the immune system produces antibodies to protect you. This occurs through natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity.
- Passive Immunity: A person receives antibodies to a disease rather than producing them, such as through an injection (gamma globulin) or an antibody-containing blood product (immune globulin) or when a baby receives antibodies from their mother through the placenta or breast milk.
- Natural Immunity: Protection that results from exposure to the disease organism through infection with the actual disease.
- Vaccine-Induced Immunity: Protection that results from the introduction of a killed or weakened form of the disease organism through vaccination.
- Immunologic Memory: The ability of the immune system to react quickly and rapidly to an antigen the body has previously encountered and initiate a corresponding immune response.
- Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity and protect against a specific disease.
- Vaccination: Introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.
- Immunization: The action of making a person resistant to a particular disease or pathogen through vaccination.
- Inoculation: A method of vaccination that consists of introduction of the infectious agent onto an abraded skin surface to produce immunity.
How Vaccines Work
The vaccine is introduced into the body and causes the immune system to produce antibodies to fight the disease and prevent infection. The immunity and immunologic memory response to the vaccine is similar to natural infection but without the risk of having the actual disease. It takes approximately two weeks for your body to produce adequate amounts of antibodies to develop immunity after vaccination.4
Building the Herd!
Vaccination is important to prevent the spread of a disease and save lives. If most of a commu- nity is immunized against a contagious disease, it decreases the chance of an outbreak significantly. This provides protection to people unable to be vaccinated because the spread of the disease is contained. This is called “community immunity” or “herd immunity.”4
Vaccine Safety
Vaccines are tested extensively for safety, but prescreening is important to identify potential problems. Check for an allergy to any component of the vaccine, any severe allergic reaction after immunization, or a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome. If the person to be vaccinated is moderately or severely ill, it may be advisable to wait until they recover before vaccinating. Egg-free vaccines are available for people with a severe egg allergy.3
Top Ten Reasons to Vaccinate5
- Stay healthy and protected
- Prevent serious illness and complications
- Minimize the threat of vaccine-preventable disease
- Protect yourself while traveling
- Prevent outbreaks
- Vaccination is safe and effective
- Recommended by the experts
- Protect your loved ones
- Protect those who can’t be vaccinated
- Commitment to protect others
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases List6
Vaccines are available for the following diseases as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended immunization schedules for children, adolescents, and adults. These vaccines prevent disease and have saved millions of lives.
Chickenpox (Varicella)
| Mpox
| |
COVID-19
| Mumps Pneumococcal Polio (Poliomyelitis) Rotavirus
| |
Dengue Diphtheria
| RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) Rubella (German Measles) Shingles (Herpes Zoster) Tetanus (Lockjaw)
| |
Flu (Influenza) Hepatitis A Hepatitis B
| Whooping Cough (Pertussis
| |
Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae Type B) HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Measles
| | |
Meningococcal
| | |
The following vaccine-preventable diseases are no longer common in the United States and are only recommended for people in certain research jobs or who may be exposed while traveling abroad.
Adenovirus
| Smallpox
|
Anthrax
| Tuberculosis
|
| Cholera | Typhoid Fever
|
Japanese Encephalitis (JE)
| Yellow Fever
|
Rabies
| |
CDC Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule, United States 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines
Resources
World Health Organization. Vaccines and Immunization. WHO website. https://www.who.int/health- topics/vaccines-and-immunization#tab=tab_1. Updated April 23, 2024. Accessed July 31, 2024.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Immunization: The Basics. CDC website. https://www. cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/imz-basics.htm#. Reviewed September 21, 2021. Accessed July 31, 2024.
- Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). General Best Practices for Immunization. CDC website. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general-recs/index.html. Updated July 22, 2024. Accessed July 31, 2024.
- Wodi AP, Morelli V. Chapter 1: Principles of Vaccination. In: Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: The Pink Book: Course Textbook - 14th Edition. CDC; 2021. Updated March , 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/pinkbook/hcp/table-of-contents/chapter-1-principles-of- vaccination.html
- Immunize.org. Top Ten Reasons to Protect Your Child by Vaccinating. Immunize.org. https://www. immunize.org/catg.d/p4016.pdf. Updated April 10, 2023. Accessed July 31, 2024.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommended Vaccines by Disease. CDC website. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/by-disease. Reviewed January 24, 2022. Accessed July 31, 2024
