What Is a Vaccine?
While bacterial infections can be eliminated by antibiotics, there is no known cure for most viruses. Antiviral medications can help with symptoms but cannot eliminate the cause. The only way to clear a virus from your body is through your own antibodies, which your body creates as a defense against the virus. Vaccinations are a harmless copy of the virus, often a mild or inert strain, to stimulate your immune system into producing the protective antibodies against the actual virus.
What Are Adult Vaccinations?
While most people get the most important vaccinations, such as those that protect against mumps, measles, rubella, and chickenpox, as children, There are some vaccines that adults may require. The most well-known of these is the influenza vaccine. Because the flu mutates every season, flu vaccines have a limited timespan, so administering a flu shot to a child will not affect their need for one as an adult. A child may get the TDaP vaccine to protect them against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, but if they did not, getting a TDaP shot as an adult is recommended. Even if you have gotten the vaccine as a child, you may need a booster shot after ten years.
Why Should I Get a Vaccine?
While some viruses may have mild symptoms, others have much more severe symptoms, and in some cases can even be fatal. It is usually well worth it to get a simple injection now in order to avoid a potentially major illness down the road.
Visit Us for Adult Vaccinations in Cartersville, Georgia
If you are interested in learning more about adult vaccinations, including which vaccinations you may need and how to get them, please contact Esslinger Medical and Aesthetics by calling (470) 888-6543 or by submitting our form online.
