Vaccines Specialist

What is a vaccine?

Vaccines offer protection against severe, potentially life-threatening pathogens — organisms that produce disease. Most of the time, your body's immune system fights pathogens, keeping you safe from harm. However, some pathogens can overwhelm your immune system, especially if it hasn't yet developed, as in young children, and you can become extremely sick.

A vaccine exposes your body to a small amount of a disease or a lab-created lookalike that allows your immune system to create antibodies that fight off the disease should you come into contact with it again.

Vaccines are one of the most effective forms of preventive medicine. The team at Stephen Renzi Medical PC is happy to answer any questions you have on the types of vaccines available and what each does.

What vaccines should I have?

Your provider at Stephen Renzi Medical PC creates a vaccination schedule for you based on your age, your vaccination history, your lifestyle and travel plans, and what diseases you may have come into contact with and already have immunity to. The most common vaccines, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), include:

• COVID-19
• Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP)
• Hepatitis A (HepA)
• Hepatitis B (HepB)
• Human papillomavirus (HPV for over 9s)
• Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
• Meningitis (MenACWY/MenB)
• Seasonal flu (influenza)
• Rotavirus (RV)

Some vaccines you need have only once in your lifetime. Others need a booster every 10 years or so as the antibodies deplete. And others still, like the seasonal flu vaccine, change every year because the virus itself changes. If you're overdue for a vaccine, call Stephen Renzi Medical PC.

Why are vaccines important?

Vaccines reduce the risk of you and those around you contracting serious, contagious diseases that could become an epidemic if allowed to go unchecked. In fact, some of the diseases that used to cause significant death or health problems in the United States, such as polio and measles, are now almost non-existent thanks to vaccine success. 

This is why many educational establishments and even some jobs require proof that you're fully vaccinated before they allow you to attend.

Vaccines also help prevent costly health care bills. Most insurance providers cover vaccinations as preventive care because they help avoid the expensive medical care required to treat the diseases vaccines protect you from.

Check your vaccine schedule or book a consultation today. Call Stephen Renzi Medical PC or request an appointment online.