Aug 15, 2006
WILMINGTON — August is National Immunization Awareness Month. A lot of people don’t like needles, but getting vaccinated is important to your health and disease prevention. That’s the message from the New Hanover County Health Department.
The health department says they have some new vaccines and ways of helping you keep track of what you’ve been vaccinated against.
If you get your shots at the health department, they’re registered with the North Carolina immunization registry. It’s a computerized database that keeps track of all your shots.
Not every provider is part of the registry, so the health department gives you a print-out with all of your information. It will tell you what vaccines you or your child have had and when, and a schedule so you know when to come back for the next shot in a series, like Hepatitis shots.
New Hanover County Health Department vaccine coordinator Larry Grimsley said, “When you come in to the health department all your vaccines are actually documented. It’s kind of a web-based program so when you go to another provider in North Carolina there able just to pull up your shot record.”
The Health Department has a new shot called D-Tap that is a booster dose for tetanus, diphtheria and pertessus shots. The health department says there have been outbreaks in kids of whooping cough, an illness those vaccines prevent. The outbreak is why the new booster vaccine is important.
The New Hanover County Health Department says getting vaccinated is just important for kids. Every adult over 65 should get a pneumonia shot and when flu season comes around, the flu shot.