Basics and Common Questions:
Immunization: The Basics
Introductory Immunization Information
- Why immunize?
- Brief overview of vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccines
- How vaccines prevent disease
- 10 things you need to know about immunizations
How many doses your child needs, diseases vaccines prevent, etc. - How immunity works: types of immunity
- Common questions
- What would happen if we stopped vaccinations?
- Life-cycle of immunizations
Consult this page to see how if enough people stop getting immunized, disease numbers will start to rise again, and there will be outbreaks. The chart tracks the evolution of a single disease, from a time when there was no vaccine to when the disease is eradicated.
Related Information and Materials
- The Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunizations
68-page booklet introducing parents to all childhood diseases and the vaccines that can protect children from them - A Parent's Guide to Kids' Vaccines
FDA guide explaining to parents the risks and benefits of common kids' vaccines - Which vaccines do pre-teens/adolescents need?
- Ingredients of Vaccines - Fact Sheet
- Report a suspected side effect (VAERS)
- Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
In the rare event that a vaccine injures a child, he or she may be compensated through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). For more information about VICP visit www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/ or call 1-800-338-2382 - Where to get vaccinations (Vaccines for Children Program)
Basics and Common Questions main page
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This page last modified on August 6, 2009
Content last reviewed on May 24, 2007
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Content last reviewed on May 24, 2007
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases