Be a Team Player: Get Your Immunizations

The reasons bandied about for not getting vaccines are few and often fiction. The reasons for getting vaccines are based on science and espoused by healthcare experts worldwide.

With August being National Immunization Awareness Month, the healthcare professionals at Southwestern Medical Center encourage you to keep your family and community healthy by staying up to date on vaccines recommended for you. 

Immunization, pretty much across the globe, is the ultimate team endeavor. Vaccines not only protect the person who is receiving the vaccine, but they also help to keep diseases from spreading to others such as your family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers, and other members of the community. Immunization helps protect those who are the most vulnerable to illness, such as infants, elders, and those with weakened immune systems.

And just to address some of the fiction, the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t include microchips and it won’t alter your DNA, and vaccines don’t contain harmful ingredients.

Not getting vaccinated, on the other hand, could lead to sickness, spreading the disease to others, or worse. According to the CDC, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50,000 adults died every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses.

Our purpose at Southwestern Medical Center is your health and well-being. And we love seeing you as our patients. That said, we’d much rather see you for wellness checkups and regular vaccinations than being wheeled into the emergency room severely weakened by COVID-19 or the flu.

Check with your primary care physician to make sure you and your family are up to date on essential vaccinations. If you need to find a primary care physician, visit SWMConline.com/find-a-doc.

Do it for yourself, and the broader “team” around you.