Note: This is day 9 of National Preparedness Month. Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM11 hash tag.
This month, as part of NPM11, I’ll be rerunning some edited and updated older preparedness essays, along with some new ones.
# 5826
While it may not leap immediately to mind when one thinks about emergency preparedness, getting and staying current with appropriate vaccines is one of the best ways to prepare for a disaster.
As it is September, now is the time to be arranging for your yearly flu vaccination. ACIP recommends that virtually everyone over the age of 6 months get the flu vaccine every year.
And it’s good preparedness advice, particular since during a disaster or prolonged emergency you are more likely to be tired, run down, and are probably at a greater risk of catching the flu.
In the wake of a disaster thousands of people may find themselves temporarily crowded together in shelters, where an influenza virus could spread rapidly.
Imagine trying to evacuate your home quickly with a couple of very sick kids, or the difficulties you might encounter finding a place to stay if your family were visibly ill with a communicable disease.
A simple flu vaccination each fall could go a long way towards preventing those difficult scenarios.
Most people think of vaccines as kids stuff. Something you outgrow the need for. But that isn’t true.
Adults need vaccines as well.
During a major disaster - such as an earthquake, hurricane, or flood - thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people may sustain injuries ranging from small cuts and scrapes to major trauma.
And any of those who have let their tetanus booster vaccination lapse are at risk of serious, even life threatening, infection.
Even if you can obtain a tetanus shot immediately after an injury (and that could be problematic in a mass casualty event), that may not prevent infection. It can take up to two weeks to build antibodies after getting the shot.
Tetanus is relatively rare in the United States (see Tetanus Surveillance --- United States, 1998—2000) due to aggressive vaccination campaigns, but worldwide, this infection still claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
And the Tetanus booster shot also protects against Diphtheria and Pertussis (Whooping Cough) – an old scourge that once was almost vanquished here in the United States, but has returned with a vengeance in recent years (see California Reports 9th Pertussis Fatality of 2010)
If you have kids, talk to their pediatrician or your family doctor about what vaccinations they require. Adults can either ask their physicians, or refer to this handy vaccination schedule for adults provided by Immunize.org.
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Vaccines have excellent safety records. Yes, taking any medicine – including a vaccine – entails some (usually miniscule) degree of risk. But those risks pale when compared to the dangers of catching the diseases they are designed to prevent.
Influenza alone kills tens of thousands of people every year in this country.
Ready.gov urges all Americans to follow these 3 steps to better preparedness:
But if you want to be truly prepared, I would recommend you consider adding an important 4th step.
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