Vaccinations & Immunizations

Whether you want to protect your children from a common illness or need to prepare for a trip overseas, vaccination is one of the safest and most effective lines of defense against many dangerous diseases, from rabies to the common flu.

The diseases that vaccines prevent can be dangerous, or even deadly. Vaccines reduce the risk of infection by working with the body’s natural defenses to help it safely develop immunity to disease.

When germs, such as bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply. This invasion is called an infection, and the infection is what causes illness. The immune system then has to fight the infection. Once it fights off the infection, the body is left with a supply of cells that help recognize and fight that disease in the future.

Vaccines help develop immunity by imitating an infection, but this “imitation” infection does not cause illness. It does, however, cause the immune system to develop the same response as it does to a real infection so the body can recognize and fight the vaccine-preventable disease in the future. 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.

Let’s start by defining several basic terms:

Immunity: Protection from an infectious disease. If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without becoming infected.

Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.

Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.

Immunization: A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.

Newport Urgent Care provides vaccinations for a number of the following diseases.

• Flu Shots
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR)
• Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis (TDAP)
• Tuberculosis (TB), TB skin test

Vaccinations can be credited for the near-eradication of certain diseases in the United States, such as polio, smallpox, and tuberculosis (TB).

Visit Newport Urgent Care to get up to date with your vaccinations.  Please call us at 949-752-6300 to confirm availability.