Vaccination is essential to our society. It has allowed us to safely prevent several mortal or highly incapacitating diseases, such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, rubella… The larger the efforts to have widespread immunisation, the larger the benefits.
With that said, and despite most of us having an academic background in healthcare, in which we studied not only these diseases, but also the vaccines that prevent them, none of us ever really thought much about vaccination. To the point where one or more of us may or may not have neglected to take, for example, our tetanus booster shot 🙈 (you should have it every 10 years – do you know when you had it last? Neither did we, hence the mishap...).
Beyond the wide schedule that some might have, like the tetanus one, it’s easy to dismiss them because, if they work, you don’t actually see them work. You don’t feel better because of a vaccine. You don’t treat your symptoms with a vaccine… In fact, you can actually acquire a few symptoms by taking them. We’ve all had a little spike in temperature or felt “under the weather” a day or two after taking one. That’s actually your body recognising the vaccine and learning how to fight the disease for which the vaccine is intended. Because that’s what a vaccine does. It teaches your body to fight off infection. That way, if you ever do get infected, your body can identify and destroy the infectious agent quickly, before any major damage occurs.
Lately we have been hearing of more and more people being reticent of vaccination. We’ve heard many stories of possible side effects and even some odder ones connecting to Bill Gates and/or 5G. I understand that it might seem scary at times. Thankfully, there are several sources you can use to get a bit more acquainted with the topic of vaccination. To better understand what they are, how they work and what is in them. The #VaccineChamp campaign and its website were created precisely with that intention. To help clear any doubts by aggregating all those trustworthy resources into one single “library”. Moreover, you can always turn to your doctor, your pharmacist or any other healthcare professional for additional information and assistance.
We hope that this text inspires you to look for more information on vaccination. We are all very capable people and knowledge is always within our grasp. Health literacy is the key to proper health management, so make sure you are making the right decisions. You will see that vaccination is one such decision. 😉