There are a lot of things you can do to keep your body healthy, from eating a balanced diet to exercising to washing your hands. Immunizations, or vaccines, are one of the most important steps in protecting yourself and others from potentially dangerous illnesses. Keep reading to learn more about why immunizations are important and how they can save lives.
1. Immunizations Can Save Your Life
Immunizations can protect you from potentially life-threatening diseases. Serious diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, and measles used to kill thousands of individuals. Now, we have vaccines to protect us from the dangerous effects of these diseases. Because of immunizations, there are now very few people who die from these infectious diseases. Vaccines like these work because they teach your immune system how to make antibodies to protect you from the diseases for which they were created. This means your body will then recognize how to fight the disease if it enters your body, protecting you from potentially dangerous symptoms and complications. In many cases immunizations can give you life-long protection, while others require boosters to maintain optimal protection.
2. Immunizations Protect Others Around You
Not only do immunizations protect you, but they also protect those around you. They do this by preventing the spread of diseases to others. Once-common infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, and pertussis are now spread much less often. When you get vaccinated against a potentially dangerous disease, you limit your ability to spread that disease to your loved ones with whom you come into contact. This is especially important if you’re around anyone who has a weakened immune system or is unable to receive immunizations for health reasons. You can help keep them safe by getting vaccinated so you won’t risk spreading a disease that could harm them. If enough people receive immunizations, your whole community will also benefit through “herd immunity.” It becomes much harder for a disease to spread when the majority of a population is vaccinated, thus protecting those who aren’t able to get vaccinated.
3. Immunizations Protect Future Generations
Immunizations protect you and your loved ones in the present, and they also protect future generations. In the course of history, the use of vaccines has reduced and even eliminated many deadly diseases that used to kill or severely disable a lot of people in previous generations. For example, enough people got vaccinated against smallpox to the point that the disease became eradicated worldwide. Now, people no longer need to receive smallpox shots since the disease no longer exists. If we continue to use immunizations against harmful diseases in the present, future generations may no longer need to worry about those diseases against which we are currently fighting.
4. Immunizations Can Save You Time and Money
Did you know that immunizations can save you both time and money? Getting vaccinated against diseases significantly reduces your chances of catching them. Catching a vaccine-preventable disease can cause you to have to take time off of work and potentially incur large medical bills for treatment. By receiving immunizations against these diseases, you are much less likely to get sick and will not need to spend time at the doctor or out of work. While you may need to spend some money to pay for vaccines, this cost is much less than what you would have to pay in medical expenses if you were to get sick with a potentially dangerous disease.
Get the Immunizations You Need at Hines Street Pharmacy
These are just a few of the many reasons why immunizations are important and how they can save lives. If you are interested in receiving one or more immunizations, we can help! Our pharmacy experts can answer any questions you have and provide the immunizations you need right here at our convenient pharmacy location. Reach out to us or stop by to learn more about getting immunizations at Hines Street Pharmacy.
