National Immunization Awareness Month
This summer the Windsor Health Department has spent time at the Goslee and Welch Pools and have had the opportunity to play the Windsor Wellness Game with several children. The game includes questions on bike safety, sun safety, hand hygiene, tick prevention and vaccines to name a few. A child was asked, “why do kids get vaccines?” and the response was, “so we can go to school”.
With that in mind, August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) and information has been added to the Town of Windsor website to provide you with resources. . Please take a minute to review the areas that are of particular interest to you. These areas include: Pregnancy, The First Year, Infant and Toddler (Ages 1-3), Starting School (Ages 4-6), Elementary School (Ages 7-10), Preteen Years (Ages 11-12), Teen Years (Ages 13-18), Into Adulthood.
Tap this link for a list of vaccines for Children Birth to 15 Months and 18 Months to 18 Years.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html
Tap this link for a list of vaccines for Adults 19 Years and Older.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html
Tap this link for Vaccine Information through the Life Span – Pregnancy, Infant and Toddler Years (Birth to Age 2), Preschool and Elementary School Years (Ages 3 through 10), Preteen and Teen Years (Ages 11 through 18) and Into Adulthood.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/growing/images/global/CDC-Growing-Up-with-Vaccines.pdf
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, many children and adults have not received their vaccines according to the recommended schedule. When children have not been vaccinated it increases the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, chicken pox and pertussis or whooping cough at school.
Adult vaccines are important as well. Vaccines lower your chances of getting certain diseases as well as lowering the risk of spreading diseases. Consult your primary care provider to determine what vaccines you need and when based on your vaccine record and medical history.
So, call your primary care provider to schedule an appointment to get back on track! If you are looking on places where vaccines are available, tap the link below for a list of locations in Windsor.
Connecticut Department of Public Health has recently updated their Immunization Home Page. Tap below to learn more about the Connecticut Immunization Program including information for providers and the public. This link also includes information about accessing your individual vaccine record through CT WiZ.
https://portal.ct.gov/immunization/?language=en_US
COVID Vaccine Information
COVID-19 Vaccines remain important in our effort to keep the public healthy. Please tap this link for more information on keeping you and your family up-to-date!
Check out these video clips to learn more about a few vaccine preventable diseases
Measles, Pertussis (Whooping Cough) and Polio.
Learn more about vaccines through the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center. They provide complete, up-to-date and reliabel information about vaccines to parents and healthcare providers. They are members of the Work Health Organization (WHO) Vaccine Safety Net because their website meets the criteria for credibility and content as defined by the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.
Check out vaccine heroes and germs and play the VAX Pack Hero Game – https://vaxpackhero.com/vaccine-heroes/
Or, have some fun and test your vaccine trivia knowledge with a round of Just the VAX – https://media.chop.edu/data/files/vaccine-trivia-game/index.html