Health and Safety Continued

Your doctor or clinic keeps records of the shots your baby receives. A child who has missed a dose needs to catch up as soon as possible.

Take your child to your doctor or clinic for a 12-month checkup. A nurse will give your child any vaccines that are due. Vaccines can help your child—and the community—stay healthy.

Vaccines are safe

In the early 1900s, childhood diseases were common. Babies died of pneumonia. Schools closed because of measles epidemics. Children were kept from swimming for fear of catching polio.

But today, thanks to vaccines, few children die of these illnesses. In fact, vaccines have nearly wiped out two diseases—smallpox and polio.

Because many childhood diseases are uncommon, some parents think their children don’t need vaccines. But if many children go without vaccines, doctors fear a return of the old diseases.

Parents need to understand that vaccines are safe. Before a new vaccine can be given, it goes through at least 10 years of testing. Testing is done by labs and clinics under rules set by the federal government. Yet a vaccine, like any medicine, may involve a risk of harm. But that risk is very small. Taking that risk is better than having a disease.

Get the facts. Talk to your doctor or clinic. Protect your children from disease.

This content has been provided freely by CMC. Click Healthy Start, Grow Smart—Your-Twelve-Month-Old for your free download. Click GreatDad Free Ebook to download the entire Health Start, Grow Smart series.

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