These Vaccinations Are Essential Over 50, Do You Have Them?

 Children need a host of vaccinations, which usually get done. But once we pass a certain age, we tend to forget and skip the needle entirely. But, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults aged 50 and up get four separate vaccines to protect against illnesses that hit older people particularly hard. While most people already plan on getting their annual flu shot, most older people skip the others, putting them at a greater risk for everything from tetanus to pneumonia.

According to Ada Stewart, M.D., a family physician in Columbia, S.C., and member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians, “As we get older, our immune system isn’t as well-functioning.” Therefore, this increases the danger that you'll contract a variety of ailments, but can also raise the risk for people you are in contact with too. 

 

It is therefore essential that you are up to date on these shots. With the exception of the shingles vaccine, they are typically fully covered by most insurance plans, with no copay or coinsurance due. So be sure to check with your insurance provider for specific coverage details. 

 

Below is a list of four vaccines any adult over 50 needs:

1. Protect yourself against shingles

Ask for: Shingrix, an approved vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration. It is more than 90% effective against shingles and its side effects, according to the CDC. 

 

For: Anyone 50 or older. 

 

Why you need it: Shingles is a painful rash with blisters caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. As you age, your risk for developing shingles increases, and if you've had chickenpox. In addition, after having shingles, some people experience long-lasting and sometimes severe pain, known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which can persist for months, or possible, years. 

 

What’s involved: Two doses, two to six months apart. 

 

What else you need to know: The CDC recommends you get Shingrix even if you previously got Zostavax, an older shingles immunization. Ditto if you already had shingles or are not sure if you had chickenpox. 

 

 

2. Ward off pneumonia and related diseases  

 

Ask for: Prevnar 13 (PCV13) and Pneumovax (PPSV23). They are two separate vaccines which when combined, provide greater protection against the pneumococcal bacteria that cause pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections than if you had to take the shot alone. 

 

For: Anyone 65 or older. You are also a candidate for the vaccine (no matter what your age) if you have chronic liver, heart or kidney disease, HIV, diabetes or alcoholism, or if you have cochlear implants, or have had your spleen removed. 

 

Why you need it: Older adults are more likely to come down with pneumonia and related illnesses. Once you do get it, you become more prone to develop complications which can lead to serious health problems, hospitalization and also death. 

 

What’s involved: Two shots, taken a year apart.

3. Boost your immunity to tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis 

 

Ask for: The Tdap vaccine or a Td booster shot. 

 

For: You need the Tdap-booster shot for the childhood DTaP vaccine if you never got the vaccine as a teenager. This is especially true if you have contact with infants or young children. If you got a Tdap over 10 years ago, then you need a booster shot for tetanus and diphtheria only (Td). 

 

What’s involved: A one-time shot for Tdap, and a Td booster every 10 years. 

 

Why you need it: For people over 50, this shot is vital as it can guard against spreading the disease to a baby, such as a grandchild. Infants under six months of age are at greater risk of complications from pertussis, also known as whooping cough. This can be life-threatening. 

 

What else you need to know: You should wait at least two weeks before you have any contact with infants. 

 

4. Get a better flu shot 

 

Ask for: Any of the following vaccines will provide extra protection against the flu, these include: Fluzone High-Dose, which contains four times the amount of antigen (a substance that prompts your body to make antibodies against the disease) as a regular flu shot; or FLUAD, which helps create a stronger immune response; and quadrivalent vaccines, which protect against four strains of flu, as opposed to the usual three. 

 

For: Everyone older than six months should get the annual flu shot, and people over 65 should get one of the stronger vaccines. 

 

What’s involved: One shot per year which the CDC recommends you get by the end of October. Studies show the protection starts to wear off in four to six months, especially in older adults. Which means that if you get the shot too early, it may lose its effectiveness once the flu season hits its peak. 

 

Why you need it: As you get older, your chances of coming down with the flu are greater, and, if you 

forget it you are likely to get sicker. People aged 65 and older account for 60% of flu-related hospitalizations. 

 

What else you need to know: While it varies from year to year, the regular flu shot is only 40% to 60% effective. New, stronger varieties also don't guarantee you won't get sick. Nevertheless, some protection is better than none.

 This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Attention adults: You need vaccinations too! (Important ones listed)

While we keep a close eye on our child’s vaccination chart to ensure they don’t miss out on any vaccination, do you get yourself vaccinated? The question must have startled many - vaccinations for adults - is that even a thing? According to a Pulmonologist, “When we think of vaccines, we envision teary-eyed children at the doctor’s clinic. Vaccines and immunization in India, so far, have been primarily directed towards infants and children, although, vaccination is as important for adults as it is for children.”

For the uninitiated, adolescents and adults carry an even greater burden of illness and death from vaccine preventable infectious diseases than do children. “We must understand that as we age, our immune system begins to deteriorate – a process called “immunosenescence” – as a result of which our ability to fight an infection reduces significantly. Also, many adults suffer from various illnesses which suppress our immune mechanisms further, thus making us more vulnerable to a wide array of infections. Diseases like diabetes, chronic lung disease, chronic liver disease, chronic kidney disease, HIV, cancers, leukemias, lymphomas are the major diseases responsible for a poor immune system in adults. Also, people who smoke, consume excessive alcohol, and those on chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy are more susceptible to acquiring infections. For all these reasons it becomes important for adults to also take the recommended vaccines.” 

So what are some of the vaccines that adults should consider important? Dr Nangia clarifies, “The vaccine recommendations for adults depend on factors like age, lifestyle, high-risk medical conditions, travel plans, and which vaccines a person has received in the past. The most important and common vaccines recommended in India are those against influenza, pneumococcal disease, hepatitis A & B, typhoid, human papillomavirus and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis.”

Important vaccines for adults: Infleunza, pneumococcal disease, hepatitis A & B, typhoid, human papillomavirus and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis

Influenza vaccination for adults

And not only your child but experts recommend even adults should get Influenza vaccine every year at the onset of fall. Unlike the West, where influenza is seasonal, in tropical countries like India, it circulates throughout the year. Each year, 3 to 5 million cases of severe influenza are reported worldwide. Depending on the virus’ ability to harm a person, each year up to 650,000 deaths happen due to Influenza. The true burden of influenza is generally under-recognized due to a number of reasons including under-testing and under-reporting.


WHO recommends that pregnant women should have the highest priority when it comes to vaccination right now. According to a Dr.,  “Additional risk groups to be considered for vaccination, are children aged 6 months - 5 years, the elderly, individuals with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, and healthcare workers. Vaccination of healthcare workers should be considered as part of a broader infection control policy for healthcare facilities.


Considering the impact of Influenza, the most important strategy is prevention through annual vaccination which can be administered at any time of the year. It is advisable to administer the latest strain of influenza vaccine for children, adults and healthcare workers to protect them against influenza. Although Influenza vaccine is not effective against COVID-19, it will help protect individuals from the burden of seasonal Influenza. 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Refusal to vaccine: refusal to a healthy life

It is perhaps one of the biggest ironies of our times that despite being a leading producer and exporter of vaccines, India has one-third of the unimmunized children around the world. It is a quite startling fact that not even half of Indian children go through the complete immunization cycle. 1 The poor response to vaccines is an outcome of a population that is largely uneducated or poorly educated as well as the influence of anti-vaccine propaganda machinery. The truth that most people do not realise about vaccines is that failing to get immunized on time can make you more susceptible to any illness.
The Journal  published a study underscoring this fact. The researchers gathered data about measles and pertussis outbreaks in recent times. It was discovered that unvaccinated people formed the majority of measles and pertussis cases 2 (pertussis reduces immunity, thus, in the absence of a pertussis vaccine, various disease outbreaks occur).

Despite the presence of ample evidence supporting the invaluable contribution made by vaccines towards global well-being, there are several myths and misconceptions around the subject. Some of the most prevalent ones include the following.

Diseases were already on the wane when vaccines came into the picture thanks to better hygiene and sanitation.
This is one of the commonest anti-vaccine theories that one comes across, and the idea here is to establish the futility of vaccines. While it is beyond doubt that better socioeconomic conditions impact disease outbreaks, it is not the game-changer. Better nutrition, antibiotics and treatment procedures have reduced mortality rates among the sick, and there have been lesser instances of disease transmission. However, when we objectively assess the disease outbreaks over the years, we can clearly see the direct and huge impact of vaccines, even in the 21 st century.

To quote an example, there has been an actual and permanent reduction in measles outbreak since the approval and wide-spread usage of measles vaccine started in 1963. 

Even the sanitary conditions today are not any better than they were in 1990, so to attribute the success of disease control to anything other than vaccination would be incorrect.

Majority of people who get the disease have been vaccinated
This is another of the popular anti-vaccine arguments, and it implies that they are harmful. However, this is a twisted way of representing the facts to support a hypothetical situation. It is true that in case of a disease outbreak, patients who had been previously vaccinated are usually more in number compared to those who were not vaccinated. However, to understand the real reasoning, we need to look at an example.

Let’s say, in a batch of 100 people, 90 were vaccinated and the remaining 10 were not. When the disease spread, 15 out of the 90 vaccinated people were affected and 10 out of those 10 who were not immunized fell ill. If we look at raw numbers, we might say 15 vaccinated people fell ill compared to only 10 non-vaccinated people. However, the reality is that only one-sixth of the vaccinated people were affected while 100% of the non- vaccinated people were affected. Hence, it stands proven that vaccines are very potent protection against diseases.

Presence of ‘hot lots’ of faulty vaccines that should be avoided
This again is a misconception or wrong interpretation of an occurrence that is used to add credibility to a baseless theory. Most of the times, reports about specific vaccine lots highlight temporary side-effects or previously ‘deemed safe’ side effects such as soreness, temporary pains or fever. They don’t necessarily have to be ‘potentially fatal’ or unforeseen side-effects. Also, at times, deaths caused by non-related reasons are also attributed to a recently administered vaccine especially among the infants who are anyway at high risk to a large number of factors other than faulty vaccines. Even the vaccine lots vary in size depending upon the communities or geographies they are being used in. There might be lots comprising less than a thousand vaccines or those comprising millions of vaccines that would be administered over a much longer period of time, thus, resulting in more instances of side-effects and to weigh both on the same criteria happens to be another negative tactic used by anti-vaccine propaganda.

Vaccines have fatal or long-term side effects which are kept hidden from us
Vaccines are extremely safe despite the negative notion about them. The occurrence of a vaccine-induced fatality is very rare, in fact, so negligible at times then it can’t even be quantified statistically. Even in the rarest of circumstances where deaths occur after administration of a vaccine, the investigation usually reveals the actual cause to be human error or miscalculation and not a faulty vaccine.

No disease hence no need for vaccines
This is a classic and most absurd argument. It is a fact that vaccines have helped us win the battle against a number of preventable diseases. In many countries, some of these preventable diseases are no longer observed or are extremely rare and isolated occurrences. In such cases, it is stated that there is no need to administer vaccines against non-existent diseases. There are faults with such an argument at two major levels. In this global age, people travel constantly. Even if there are no preventable diseases in one country, it doesn’t rule out the possibility of getting affected by the disease in another country. There are also chances of someone from another country landing with a preventable and communicable disease that would then cause an outbreak among an unprotected population.

In conclusion
It is important for the healthcare workers administering vaccines to pay attention to and show empathy towards a patient’s concerns, fears and apprehensions regarding vaccination or at least to take them into consideration before they are administered. There is no doubt that vaccines are lifesavers, but it is imperative to cultivate a stronger feeling of trust between the healthcare workers and the patients. Such trust-building interactions will also help in identifying the arguments which yield positive results and convince those who are apprehensive to accept immunization!

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What happens when your children don’t get vaccinated?

Health officials have expressed concerns over the resurgence of diseases such as measles and chicken pox because of an increasing number of parents who opt out of vaccinating their child. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), immunisation is a proven tool that helps control and eliminate life-threatening infectious diseases. Immunisation is estimated to avert between 2 and 3 million deaths each year.

Vaccination is a simple yet effective way of protecting children from serious diseases. It also helps protect the broader community by minimising the spread of disease. Vaccines, which works by triggering the immune system to fight against certain diseases, protect children who are immunised and people close to them by preventing the spread of the disease. Some of the diseases that can be prevented by vaccines include cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus.

Parents who choose to delay some vaccines, or reject some vaccines entirely, may be putting their children’s health at risk. Parents can help make their children healthier than was ever possible in earlier generations by following the immunisation guidelines recommended by their child’s Pediatrician.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

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GARLIC HOME REMEDIES

1. For ear pain: use two crushed garlic, boil, strain and 

apply a few drops warm.

2. To sleep: to sleep; eat salad with garlic at night.

3. Against warts and spots on the skin: Apply the garlic 

directly onto the skin to clear spots, especially those 

caused by acne. Its topical use also removes warts.

4. For rheumatism: Rub the peeled garlic over the sore 

and swollen joints. This choice leads to a rather anti-

inflammatory action and reduces pain.

5. To lower blood pressure: People with high blood 

pressure can take a garlic clove fasting party. To avoid 

irritating the stomach lining, it is recommended chopping 

the garlic clove and swallows every bit as if they were 

pills. 

You can also prepare a syrup with two heads of peeled 

garlic. Must be mixed with sugar, and a glass of water. To 

lower the pressure should take 2 tablespoons a day.

6. To restore virility: Combine the garlic with wheat germ 

oil and cayenne. You can also rub garlic in the area of the 

lumbar spine.

7. Against pertussis: Spread garlic in the chest and back 

to soften the cough and relieve airway. To prevent flu and 

allergies, garlic mixed with honey and lemon.

8. For muscle aches: Eating garlic tones the muscles. 

Prepare a paste of a head of garlic and crushed rub it on 

the affected area. You can also compress and prepare a 

place for the entire night on the sore area.

9. Smoking cessation: Take a couple of raw garlic on an 

empty stomach, two with lemon juice before lunch and 

before dinner the other two.

10. Hair loss: You can prevent it by rubbing the scalp with 

a mix of 1 teaspoon of garlic juice, 8 oz. of rosemary tea, 1 

tablespoon of honey and lemon juice.

Nursing women should avoid using garlic as it alters the 

taste of milk and produces pain in the stomach and 

intestines of the infant child. People who suffer from 

headaches 

should also avoid using garlic.