What You Should Know About Vaccines

Ambulatory care pharmacist, and assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Touro College of Pharmacy

Vaccines have greatly contributed to keeping the public healthy. Getting vaccinated for a vaccine preventable disease can protect you from getting the disease or decrease the intensity of symptoms that you may experience if you get infected. Vaccines successfully eliminated smallpox completely world-wide and polio is only seen in the United States if imported from another country. In addition, vaccines decreased the number of cases of tetanus, measles, and whooping cough seen in the United States.

What is the role of vaccines in protecting us from catching diseases? One way to protect ourselves and our families from catching certain diseases is to be vaccinated. Each vaccine teaches our body how to fight a specific germ when our body encounters that germ in the future. The current vaccines that are available in the market protect you from 21 diseases including whooping cough, hepatitis A/B, flu, polio, and measles. The vaccine could protect you from getting sick, having complications, being hospitalized or dying from one of the vaccine preventable diseases.

It is important to vaccinate your children, especially starting from a young age, as the infant’s immune system is not fully developed at birth, and they are exposed to thousands of germs daily. This protects children from catching illnesses, including childhood diseases.

How do vaccines work? Vaccines work by introducing a tiny amount of an antigen into your body for your immune system to learn to recognize. An antigen is a small amount of weakened or killed bacteria or virus that activates your immune system to create antibodies. The immune system will then remember and learn how to defend itself in case your body is exposed to the same bacteria or virus in the future. This has decreased the amount of people that got sick or died by one of the vaccine preventable diseases. Some vaccines’ protection may fade over time requiring you to get a booster. An example is the tetanus vaccine which requires a boosted dose every 10 years to have continued protection against tetanus and the whooping cough.

Who’s monitoring vaccine safety? Before a vaccine is introduced to the public, the vaccine must be tested to ensure safety and efficacy. After the vaccine is introduced to the public, federal organizations including the CDC, or the National Institute of Health, monitor for any possible safety concerns. There are a few monitoring systems that the CDC uses to ensure the safety of the vaccines currently available for the public.

One system that the CDC uses to monitor for safety of vaccines is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Anyone, including the public, healthcare providers, and vaccine manufacturers can report to VAERS. Data that VAERS collects includes demographic information, type of vaccine received, date of vaccine, when the reaction began, current illnesses/medications, medical history, past history of unwanted side effects, also called adverse effects or adverse events following vaccination. The reported entries are analyzed to determine if a more in-depth review of the vaccine is required. Most of the entries are for mild adverse effects. Of note, a report does not directly indicate that the vaccine is the cause of the adverse effect.

Another monitoring system for vaccine safety in the United States is the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office (ISO). ISO monitors safety of vaccines through information that is collected from presentations at scientific meetings or from peer-reviewed journals. Safety information would then be presented to stakeholders including with the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP is responsible for developing the vaccination schedule for children and adults.

In addition, the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) includes 13 practice sites that gather information from electronic health records. Some data collected includes vaccines given, date of vaccine administration, other vaccinations given in the same day, and any medical diagnosis given during the visit the vaccine was administered. VSD monitors for safety of vaccines and conducts further research regarding any rare or serious side effects of vaccines. If there is a vaccine that may be associated with an adverse event, CDC would conduct further analysis.

What are typical side effects from vaccines? Most people that are vaccinated only experience mild or no side effects. The most common mild side effects include fever, tiredness, body aches, redness, swelling, or tenderness at the vaccine site. These mild side effects tend to go away on their own in a couple of days.

Vaccine Tricks and Tips:

You can obtain more than one vaccine during the same visit to reduce the number of visits to the doctor’s office or pharmacy.

You and your child can still get vaccinated even if you are experiencing a mild illness such as low-grade fever, cold, runny nose, mild diarrhea, or ear infection.

For arm soreness, redness, itching, or swelling, apply a wet cloth to the injection area. Pain medications such as Tylenol can be taken.

For low-grade fever, medications such as Advil or Tylenol can be taken to reduce your or your child’s temperature. For children younger than 12 weeks, do not administer Tylenol and for children younger than 6 months, do not administer Advil. Call your pediatrician to obtain information on symptom control recommendations.