Immunizations: Overview of North Texas Medical Center

North Texas Medical Center (NTMC) provides exceptional care that is patient-centred to the Gainesville, TX community. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, NTMC offers a wide variety of outpatient and inpatient services that include: respiratory, surgery, appendectomy services, cholecystectomy services, endoscopy, general surgery, women’s health, home health, cardiac & pulmonary rehab, laboratory, medical imaging, online nursery, therapy services and several outpatient services.

What Is Immunization?

The goal of immunization is to protect against a specific disease that causes severe illness and complications through the administration of a vaccine. The vaccines are meant to stimulate the body’s immune system so that the person can develop resistance against subsequent infections.

Immunization vaccines come in different types. There are those live/attenuated (altered virus, so it does not cause illness), Inactivated toxins (where the bacteria’s toxins and not the bacteria itself cause illness), Subunit/conjugate vaccines (pathogen segments), and Inactivated/killed organisms’ vaccines. The vaccines are specific on who should be given, the number of doses and durations in between, and who should be vaccinated.

Most immunizations are scheduled by age, that is infants/young children, preteens and teens, and adults. There are other additional vaccines for people that have an increased risk of being exposed to certain diseases or are high-risk like travellers, pregnant women, health care workers, military women, those with health conditions, bisexual and gay men. North Texas Medical Center offers immunization.

5 Types of Immunizations offered at NTMC

Immunizations for Children

Childhood immunizations/vaccines are meant to protect them against deadly diseases that have dangerous complications as children are normally very vulnerable, and also prevent the spread of diseases. These are the different vaccine that toddlers and children are given from birth to 6 years:

• Birth- The baby receives 3 doses of Hepatitis B vaccine before leaving the hospital to protect them against liver damage with lifelong complications.
• 1-2 Months- The child received the 2^nddose of Hepatitis B vaccine, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough), Polio (IPV), Pneumococcal (PCV), Rotavirus (RV), Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib).
• 4 Months- DTaP, Hib, Polio, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus, Hepatitis B.
• 6 Months- DTaP, Hib, Polio, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus, Influenza (flu).
• 11-23 months- Chickenpox, DTaP, Hib, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), Polio, Pneumococcal, Hepatitis A (Hep A), Hepatitis B (Hep B).
• 4-6 Years- DTaP, Polio, MMR, Chickenpox (varicella), Influenza (every year) vaccines.

Immunizations for College

The recommendation is that college students who are transitioning from childhood to adulthood get vaccinated when joining college, or in the first year of college.

• 11-12 Years (Pre-Teens)- Meningococcal conjugate vaccine, HPV vaccine, Tdap (booster), Flu vaccine (yearly).
• 19-26 Years- Tdap (against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis), HPV vaccine for those that missed it at age 11-12 (protects against human papillomaviruses that causes cervical and anal cancers, and genital warts), Meningococcal conjugate vaccine.

Immunizations for Adults

• All adults, especially pregnant women, those that have some chronic health conditions, and older adults should get a flu vaccine every year.
• Tdap vaccine against whooping cough (pertussis) should be administered to those who never received one as adolescents, and Td (tetanus, diphtheria) booster every 10 years.
• Zoster vaccine is given to adults over 50 years of age to prevent shingles and its complications.
• People older than 60 years should get pneumococcal and zoster vaccines on top of the seasonal flu and Td/Tdap vaccines.

Immunizations for Travel

These vaccines are meant to protect your health while you travel. Those planning to travel should visit a health care provider or travel clinic 6-8 weeks before their travel, as most require to administered ahead of time, and have the vaccination documents in order as you should carry them on the trip. The immunizations that one receives depend on their travel destination, the duration of stay, and how they will be travelling.

First of all, one must have all the routine vaccinations from childhood, and those recommended for adults in order, before getting the travel-related immunizations. Travel vaccines are available under two categories:

• Required Vaccines- These are compulsory vaccines that a traveller must have to enter a country as government regulation. These are meant to keep the travellers from getting sick, and also from bringing the infection into the country. The requirements for such vaccines change from time to time, depending on the country. One such vaccine is the yellow fever vaccine.

• Recommended vaccines- These are vaccines recommended to travellers as a means to protect their health, not part of routine vaccinations, and not necessarily as a government requirement. They protect the traveller from travel-related illnesses, and their recommendation depends on factors like age, health, and itinerary. Such vaccines include the typhoid fever vaccine, cholera vaccine, rabies vaccine.

Immunizations for Flu Season

Influenza, or flu, is a contagious viral respiratory infection of the nose, throat, and lungs caused by the influenza virus. Everyone is at risk of getting the flu, but it is so severe in some people cases that it can lead to hospitalization. The flu vaccine is the best way of preventing one from getting the flu, which is recommended once a year for people older than six months.