The Northeast Colorado Health Department urges parents to stay up to date with their children’s immunizations.
Why do students need to be immunized?
School will be starting soon, and it is time to think about getting your children ready once again. Colorado law requires that students attending school (public, private or parochial) be immunized against certain vaccine-preventable diseases. In addition to the ones that are required, there are several more that are recommended.
Some people ask, “Aren’t these diseases that happened in the past?”
There are some diseases that are prevented by vaccines, like pertussis (whooping cough) and chickenpox that remain common in the United States.
On the other hand, there are other diseases that are no longer common in this country because of vaccines. However, if we stopped vaccinating, even the few cases that we do have in the United States could very quickly become common once again.
Vaccinations are the No. 1 action that parents can take to keep their children safe from disease!
Why immunize children early in life? Immunization schedules are designed to protect infants and children when they are most vulnerable and before they are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. Babies do receive some immunity or protection from their mother during the last few weeks of pregnancy. However, these antibodies decrease over time, leaving the infant vulnerable to disease.
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