Why Your Child Should Get Vaccinated

Vaccines can prevent common diseases that used to seriously harm or even kill infants, children, and adults. Without vaccines, your child is at higher risk of becoming seriously ill or even dying from childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough.

It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat one after it occurs.

• Vaccination is a safe, highly effective, and easy way to help keep your family healthy.

• The recommended vaccination schedule balances when a child is likely to be exposed to a disease and when a vaccine will be most effective.

• Vaccines are tested to ensure they can be given safely and effectively at the recommended ages.

For more information on the importance of vaccines, visit the CDC website. 

How Vaccines Protect Children

Vaccines can help protect against certain diseases by imitating an infection. This type of imitation infection teaches the immune system how to fight off a future infection. Sometimes, after getting a vaccine, the imitation infection can cause minor symptoms, such as fever. Such minor symptoms are normal and should be expected as the body builds immunity.

After receiving the vaccine, the body is left with a supply of white blood cells that will remember how to fight that disease. However, it typically takes a few weeks for the body to produce defensive white blood cells after vaccination. Therefore, it is possible that a person infected with a disease just before or just after vaccination could develop symptoms and get that disease, because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection. While vaccines are the safest way to protect a person from a disease, no vaccine is perfect. It is possible to get a disease even when vaccinated, but the person is less likely to become seriously ill.

Importance of Vaccines

1. Most babies do not get protective antibodies against diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, or Hib from their mothers, which is why its important to vaccinate a child before he or she is exposed to those diseases.

2. Vaccines have greatly reduced diseases that once routinely harmed or killed babies, children, and adults.

3. Vaccines help your body create protective antibodies- proteins that help fight off infections

4. Vaccines can prevent serious illness or serious complications from those illnesses.

5. By getting vaccinated, you can protect yourself and also avoid spreading preventable diseases to other people in your community.

Safety of Multiple Vaccines at One Time

Scientific data show that getting several vaccines at the same time does not cause any chronic health problems. The recommended vaccines have been shown to be as effective in combination with other vaccines as they are when given individually. Children should be given vaccines according to the recommended vaccine schedule to protect them during the vulnerable early stages of their lives. Giving multiple shots at the same time means fewer office visits!

Childhood Vaccination Schedule / Status

The below vaccine schedules show when and how often children should get vaccines for the best protection. View your child's current vaccination status by visiting the Wisconsin Immunization Registry Website.

• Children birth to six years old vaccine schedule 

• Children 7-18 years old vaccine schedule

Where to get your child vaccinated

If your child does not have insurance, is under-insured, or on Badger Care the below locations have free vaccines to provide.

• Southwest Suburban Health Department

  • West Allis Location - National Avenue

  • Greenfield Location - Forest Home Avenue

• Aurora Health Care - Six Points Clinic

• ProCare Medical Group - Lincoln Avenue Clinic

• ProCare Medical Group - Layton Blvd Clinic

• Nova Medical Clinic LLC

• Aurora Health Care - West Allis Medical Center Physician’s Office Tower 2nd floor

• Medical College of Wisconsin - Lincoln Avenue Clinic

• Children’s Medical Group - Greenfield Pediatrics

• Medical College of Wisconsin - Sunnyslope Primary Care

• ProHealth Medical Group - New Berlin

• Advocate Aurora Health- New Berlin

Additional Resources

 Vaccine Social Story: This social story provides a visual explanation of what to expect when getting vaccines and what you may experience after getting them.