Time For Your Check Up

Figure 1

Doc Mcstuffins is a doctor for her toys. She helps make her toys feel better when they are sick. If you look to the right there is a picture of Doc helping Boppy feel better. If you get sick you go see your doctor so they can help you feel better. What if there was a way for the doctors to help you not get sick? Guess what there is! Vaccines help you not get sick. 

What are Vaccines?
Vaccines are medicine that the doctor gives you so that you don't get a disease (1). A disease is a something that makes you really sick. When the doctor gives you a shot they are helping you to not get sick. Doc Mcstuffins gives her toy Boppy a shot of air. This shot helped make the toy feel better because he was flat. The shot the doctor gives you is called a vaccine. The shot ,even though hurts for a little, it will help you stay health.

Figure 2

How do Vaccines Work?
Vaccines are made to work with your immune system. Your immune system is a part of your body that figures out what is good and what is bad. The good stuff in our bodies help keep us healthy and the bad is what causes us to get sick. After your immune system figures out what is bad the tiny superheros find a way to get rid of it. These little superheros are called antibodies(1).  When the doctor gives you the vaccine they put some of the bad in our bodies. They do not put enough of it to make us sick, just enough for the antibodies to remember it so that next time it won't make you sick. Figure 2 shows you a picture of someone like you getting a vaccine.
Why Do I Need Vaccines?
You need vaccines to help keep you healthy. If you don't get your vaccine you might get a disease. One disease you could get is the chicken pox. This is a silly name because it does not make you look like a chicken! The chicken poxs make you really itchy. You know how itchy a bug bite is? It would be like having a lot of bug bites. The chicken pox also hurt. So they would be itchy like a bug bite but they would hurt too(2).

Now It's Your Turn
Boppy got his shot of air to make him feel better so next time it is time for your check up you do not need to be scared of getting your shots. If Boppy can do it so can you! Just remember that one little pinch with help keep you healthy! And the best part of the whole check up is the yummy lollipop you get when you are all done!

References 

(1) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (2017b, May 11). How vaccines work. Retrieved from a US Department of Health and Human Services managed    website: https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/work/index.html
(2) Chickenpox (Varicella). (2017, April 12). Retrived from: https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/chickenpox-varicella

(3) [Photograph]. Video thumbnail for Doc McStuffins Theme Tune. Retrieved from http://disneyjunior.en.disneyme.com/doc-mcstuffins/watch-doc-mcstuffins-theme-tune

(4) [Photograph]. Cartoon doctor giving child a vaccination. Retrieved from: http://moziru.com/explore/Shoot%20clipart%20vaccination%20child/#