A Guide to Childhood Vaccines

In a time when people can travel across the globe in just one day, it’s not hard to imagine just how easily diseases could travel too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccinations from birth through adulthood to provide a lifetime of protection against many diseases and infections. It’s important to remember that just because diseases like polio are not as prevalent as they once were — that doesn’t mean that the germs that cause them have suddenly disappeared. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between two and three million deaths are prevented each year by vaccination programs worldwide. Anyone can harbor these germs and potentially infect a baby or child, so read on to learn more about what diseases can be vaccinated against. For the full list of vaccine recommendations, visit the CDC’s website.