With students preparing for college and children getting ready to join their classmates in school, the end of summer is a great time for everyone to catch up on their immunizations.

What is immunization? It’s the process by which your immune system acquires the ability to defend you from disease. Usually we accomplish this through vaccination – exposing a person to just enough of a pathogen that the immune system learns to identify it and fight it off. Think of it as updating your body’s anti-virus software!

Who needs to be immunized? Immunization is for everybody. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Getting immunized is a lifelong, life-protecting community effort regardless of age, sex, race, ethnic background or country of origin. Recommended vaccinations begin soon after birth and continue throughout life.

The reason children are immunized against so many diseases – like measles, mumps, and rubella – is simply that childhood is the time when we’re most vulnerable. But protection against many illnesses – like tetanus shots and the flu shot – requires ongoing treatment, for adults and children alike. And if you’re traveling outside the US, you may need immunizations you haven’t needed before.

Is immunization safe? Vaccine safety has been in the news a lot recently. Like any medication, there are risks for a small number of people. But overall, it’s very safe. In fact, the discovery of immunization techniques was one of the major public health victories of the 20th century. Do you know anyone who has died of smallpox recently? No? That’s because we wiped it out in 1979 with widespread immunization programs. And getting immunized doesn’t just protect you – it protects all the people you come in contact with.

Okay, I’m convinced. Now what? Find a doctor who can catch you up on your immunizations!