The Importance of Keeping Your Child's Immunisation Records
Immunisation is one of the greatest public health successes of all time, which has prevented disease and saved millions of lives around the world. Vaccines do their job by stimulating the immune system, the body's natural defences to produce specific antibodies that will recognise and fight off harmful disease-causing pathogens, preparing it to recognise and fight them without actually causing the illness. Since this is a pre-recorded form of defence, it is extremely important not only for the people themselves but also for the communities in their surroundings. The principle of herd immunity describes a high percentage of the population being vaccinated and thereby confers indirect protection to non-vaccinated individuals who could not receive vaccinations-for instance, infants, elderly, and immune deficient patients. Thus, this collective immunity will have the effect of drastically reducing the risk of outbreaks, bringing the transmission of infectious diseases to an end, or ev...