Vaccinations

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and "remember" it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters.

What are "routine vaccines"?

Routine vaccines are those that are recommended for everyone in the United States, depending on age and your vaccine history. (See routine vaccine schedules.) Most people think of these as childhood vaccines that you get before starting school, but some vaccines are routinely recommended for adults, and some are recommended every year (a flu vaccine) or every 10 years (a tetanus booster).

Routine childhood vaccines include

• Hepatitis B

• Rotavirus

• DTaP

• Hib

• Pneumococcal

• Polio

• Flu

• MMR

• Chickenpox

• Hepatitis A

• Meningococcal

• HPV

Adult routine vaccines include

• Flu

• Td (Tetanus, Diphtheria)

• Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis)

• HPV

• Shingles

• Pneumococcal

• Meningococcal

• Hepatitis A

• Hepatitis B