Clare Louise 
Vaccinations aren’t just about protecting your health — they’re also about protecting the health of the people around you.
By getting vaccinated, you’re helping more people than just yourself. When more people are vaccinated the spread of dangerous diseases like polio, measles, smallpox and more can be stopped in its tracks.
Diseases like smallpox have actually been completely eradicated thanks to the combined efforts of people receiving the vaccine and wiping it from the earth.
Vaccines function by containing antigens. Antigens cause diseases, and vaccines contain these antigens of these diseases in a dead or weakened state.
By having these weakened or dead antigens in our bodies, our immune systems are able to produce antibodies in response to these antigens that effectively make us immune to the disease.
Why is this important to the people around you? Well, some people simply aren’t able to receive vaccines. For example, infants or adults with pre-existing medical conditions may be unable to get vaccinated.
Just because these people are unable to receive vaccines it doesn’t mean they should be fair game for these dangerous illnesses. Some of these people are already facing difficult medical issues.
Complications from easily avoidable illnesses like influenza could put their already weakened immune systems into a state that requires hospitalization. By having more people be vaccinated against these illnesses, we are better able to stop the spread of it to those who would be affected the most.
It’s not just about you when it comes to vaccines. That’s why as long as you don’t have any pre-existing conditions diagnosed by your doctor, we heavily recommend that you receive these invaluable shots.
Call your pharmacy and see if you can pop in — many do them for only a few dollars or even for free! Getting vaccinated is one way you can do something good for yourself, but also the world.
