Vaccines: The Must-have On Your Child’s Back-to-school Checklist

By Savannah Koplon

With the start of the school year just around the corner, it is easy to overlook one of the most important things on any back-to-school checklist – making sure your child is vaccinated. Vaccinations protect children from serious diseases, ultimately protecting families, schools and communities by way of safe and effective immunizations.

Whether your child is entering day care for the first time, going to middle school or heading off to college, University of Alabama at Birmingham physicians are answering some of the most commonly asked questions about immunizations, giving parents the proper resources and information needed to ensure that their child is up-to-date on all necessary vaccinations.

What is the benefit to vaccinating my child? Vaccination is the most important way to protect your infant, child and teenager from harmful diseases, many of which are preventable and can be life-threatening. Vaccine-preventable diseases exist throughout the world and can cause outbreaks at any given time, even in our own country.“The best way to treat diseases is to prevent them in the first place, and the diseases on the vaccine schedule are all preventable for the vast majority of our population,” said David Kimberlin, vice chair of UAB’s Department of Pediatrics, co-director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and also the American Academy of Pediatrics liaison to the Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “The scientific evidence and public health statistics are comprehensive and compelling – properly scheduled and dosed vaccines are safe and effective, and they’re the reason we don’t see diseases like measles or whooping cough running rampant across our country.”

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