Everyday Health Launches New Vaccine Planner Tool to Provide Personalized Immunization Guidance

"Vaccines are important for two big reasons," says Sandra Albrecht, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. "One, they protect individuals from becoming very sick or dying if infected with a dangerous pathogen, like a virus, and two, they reduce disease transmission in the community by limiting the opportunity for exposure to an infectious disease."

Vaccines use weakened or killed versions of pathogens or specific parts of pathogens that teach the immune system how to recognize and respond to the threat quickly should there be a future exposure. "This reduces the likelihood of the person becoming very ill," Dr. Albrecht says. "And if the person does not get sick or is sick for a shorter period of time, this also reduces the likelihood of transmitting the illness to other people."

Albrecht adds, "For individuals, even if they are healthy, vaccines are important because they reduce the likelihood of becoming sick for a long period of time, which has big impacts on life in one's household, for productivity at work, and for just feeling well in general."

Saving Lives and Herd Immunity

When healthy people get immunized it helps protect at-risk individuals around them. For instance, "There are some people who cannot get vaccines due to a medication they're taking or a health condition that affects their immune system," explains Stacy B. Buchanan, DNP, RN, assistant professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta. Other people, including babies and the elderly, may have immune systems that don't work well even if they are vaccinated.

"But when everyone else gets their vaccines - on time and according to the recommended schedule - vulnerable people are protected due to the lower level of circulating disease in the community," Dr. Buchanan says. "What I have just described is called herd immunity."

Are Vaccines Safe?

"Vaccines are generally safe; however, no vaccine is 100 percent safe," Buchanan says. "Each vaccine product carries some risk of side effects, with the most common being fever, pain, swelling at the injection site, and mild fatigue. But serious adverse reactions are rare."

She notes that vaccines go through rigorous testing prior to being made available for the public and are continually monitored in the United States through a program called the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) to identify and respond to any unexpected issues.