Are You Up to Date on Your Adult Vaccines?
While watching the news about the latest health scare, you may wonder to yourself if your adult immunizations are up to date. While your health care professional should be the first person to whom you turn for advice about which vaccines you need, the Centers for Disease Control has a website providing information on which specific diseases you should be vaccinated against. Arming yourself with this information can help you start a dialogue with your physician. According to the CDC, some adults incorrectly assume that the vaccines they received as children will protect them for the rest of their lives. Generally this is true, except that:
- Some adults were never vaccinated as children.
- Newer vaccines were not available when some adults were children.
- Immunity can begin to fade over time.
- As we age, we become more susceptible to serious disease caused by common infections (e.g., flu, pneumococcus).
For instance, if as a child you didn’t have mumps, you may still wonder if you should be vaccinated against the disease. On the CDC website, you will find a list of diseases that can be prevented by immunization. Some immunizations are vital for most adults, especially senior citizens. Others are appropriate for only certain people. By reading the information, you can find out if you are at risk for any of the diseases. You may want to print the “Adult Vaccine Schedule” located at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/adult-schedule.htm and take it with you to your healthcare provider.
Adults who work in a school setting should remember this: You need vaccines not only to protect yourself from infection but to prevent the spread of infection to the people you care for or work with.
As someone who works in a school, you are encouraged to consider a yearly flu vaccination and to make sure all vaccinations are up to date. You might be exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases carried by unvaccinated children, or you might be a carrier who infects unvaccinated children and spreads disease to them and their close contacts. If you work with, or care for young children, it is especially important that you remain immune to vaccine-preventable childhood diseases yourself so that you can't infect children who might not be fully vaccinated. These diseases include chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), and flu.
Since you work in an educational setting, you want to be clear on exactly which vaccines you need. Using the information provided by the CDC will enable you to understand which ones might be important for you and help you and your doctor decide which vaccines you need and when to get them.
