Vaccination
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, so it's a good time to be reminded of the importance of vaccinations. Vaccinations help prevent diseases from spreading, protecting individuals and communities alike.
It is because of campaigns to inoculate members of the public that smallpox has been completely eradicated and polio sharply reduced. It's easy to forget, now, how prevalent these diseases once were. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is only the best-known American polio sufferer, and a reminder of how common the disease was not 70 years ago.
At its height, smallpox killed ten percent of Swedish infants annually, and was similarly deadly in the rest of the world. Smallpox killed more people in the 20th century than warfare did. It is through vaccination that this scourge was completely eliminated in 1979.
Vaccines are safe for a majority of the population, and should be given to anyone who doesn't have some medical reason they need to not be immunized. Now is the time to make sure your and your children's vaccines are up to date.