Vaccines Work by Creating Immunity (Protection) Against Serious Diseases
When your baby gets sick, her body makes antibodies to fight the infection. The antibodies stay in her body, ready to protect her if she gets infected by the same germ later on. Vaccines work in the same way, by creating protective antibodies without your baby having to get sick from the disease. Vaccines are the safest way to teach your baby’s body how to defend itself against serious diseases.
Why are Vaccines Given at Such a Young Age?
Infants get vaccines when they have the highest risk for becoming seriously ill from certain diseases and when their immune systems respond best to the vaccines. We start immunizing as early as possible to protect children as soon as possible.
Why So Many Vaccines at One Visit?
- Babies are at high risk for disease. Vaccines help them build immunity to protect them as soon as possible.
- We have vaccines to safely protect children against more diseases than ever before.
- Babies’ immune systems can easily handle many vaccines at one visit without being overloaded.
Why Does My Baby Need So Many Doses of the Same Vaccine?
Your baby needs more than one dose of most vaccines to build the best immunity. His protection increases after each dose he gets. He will also need “booster doses” of some vaccines throughout his lifetime to stay protected against some diseases.