Vaccines aren't just for kids

by Tara Smith     Department: Health & Life Sciences

Part of my job involves being trained to work in a biosafety level 3 laboratory, which requires wearing a respirator. We have to be checked every year to make sure we're still physically able to work in this type of laboratory: our lungs are good and we're fit enough to handle the stresses.

At my check-up, the nurse noted that it had been ten years since my last tetanus booster, so my arm smarts a bit now from that shot. But while my nurse was observant, and my health is monitored more closely than most because of the environment where I work and the work I carry out, a recent article notes that most adults fail to keep up with their vaccines:

Only 2 percent of adults are currently protected against shingles, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey reported in January.

Only 10 percent of women under 26 have received a new vaccine against cervical cancer.

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Shingles, whooping cough, tetanus, flu and pneumonia all pose serious dangers to adults, said Dr. Ann Rybolt, a physician with University Medical Associates and Erlanger hospital.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, has reemerged in the past 10 years. The painful disease strikes up to a million people each year.

Shingles, a painful condition that lasts for years, attacks another 1 million people each year. Only two percent of Americans over 60 have been vaccinated.

Pneumonia cases are also on the rise, especially among seniors.

These diseases can all affect not only the adult whose immunity is waning, making them once again susceptible to these diseases. They can also spread from the infected adult to unvaccinated children they're in contact with--including a parent's own children.

Getting kids vaccinated is an important part of the picture, but we mustn't forget to take care of ourselves as well.

Tags: bacteria, disease, Vaccination, viruses