Protect Your Child from Diseases

Infants, toddlers and your children need vaccines to protect them from infections that can cause diseases like chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough and more.

Vaccines work.

Vaccines have kept children healthy and have saved millions of lives for more than 50 years. Most childhood vaccines are 90% to 99% effective in preventing disease. And if a vaccinated child does get the disease, the symptoms are usually less serious than in a child who hasn’t been vaccinated.  Yes, babies are born with limited antibodies and they do receive additional antibodies from their mother’s breast milk; but this is only temporary.

Why?

Babies and young children are especially at risks because their immune systems are still developing and weak. Most childhood vaccines are 90% to 99% effective. And should a vaccinated child get the disease, their symptoms are typically less serious that a non-vaccinated child.

Vaccines stimulate the immune system to react as if there was a real infection. The body will fend off the infection. This is extremely important because the body will be able to fight off the germ should it enter the body later.

Immunization Schedule

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created a detailed schedule for infants, toddlers, children and teenagers. The schedule outlines the type of vaccine, what age to start, when to get repeated doses, what disease the vaccine treats, etc.   Plus the CDC has listed vaccines for International travel.

Benefits vs. Risk

A vaccine is a medicine. Medicines are very effective; no medicine or vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing the disease or 100 percent safe in all individuals. Typical side effects are soreness at injection site or a mild fever. Serious vaccine reactions are extremely rare.  MacKoul Pediatrics doctors and team members will discuss the benefits and potential risks with you.


About MacKoul Pediatrics

MacKoul Pediatrics is a high-quality local pediatrics office in Cape Coral, FL where caring, compassionate doctors and nurses work with you to keep your children as healthy as possible. MacKoul Pediatrics cares for children from birth to college age, from Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, and Punta Gorda andbeyond.