Immunizations

What are immunizations?

Immunizations are vaccines that boost your child’s immunity to particular diseases or illnesses, effectively protecting them from becoming sick. They’re administered through a syringe during an in-office procedure that only takes a few minutes.

The team at Katy Pediatric Associates strongly supports vaccinations and recommends and provides them during both well-child visits and sports physicals. They also provide shot-only appointments if your child is behind on their vaccines but up-to-date on their wellness visits.

Why should my child get immunized?

Preventative care aims to keep your child healthy by making sure they don’t get sick in the first place, which is better for their overall health and eliminates the need for costly and complicated reactive treatments.

Immunizations are also beneficial for public health. By preventing infection, immunizations have helped to suppress major disease epidemics that used to be common, like mumps, measles, and whooping cough, and have significantly reduced the prevalence of other diseases like polio and smallpox. 

How do immunizations work?

Immunizations are composed of a little bit of the disease that they’re designed to protect your child from. In some cases, that means a lab-made protein that imitates the virus or bacteria, while in other cases, it might be a weakened form of the actual disease. 

When your pediatrician injects your child with a vaccine, it triggers their body to fight it, and their immune system begins producing antibodies that are designed to combat that particular disease. It’s a losing battle for the virus or bacteria, however, because the vaccine doesn’t contain enough of the disease to effectively infect your child. As a result, your child’s immune system easily wins, and in the process, it’s learned how to produce specific antibodies to fight that particular illness. So if your child is ever exposed to that disease in the future, their immune system knows exactly what to do.

What immunizations does my child need to have?

Katy Pediatric Associates follows the vaccine schedule established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Ask your provider which immunizations your child needs and when they need them.

Schedule your visit with Katy Pediatric Associates by calling the office or requesting an appointment online and make sure that your child is up-to-date with their immunizations today.