Comfort Keepers Home Care Solutions: Why Seniors Need Immunizations in Tulsa, OK

Does your senior loved one need help managing medications? Comfort Keepers Home Care Solutions in Tulsa, OK offer the following tips to help your senior

There are several preventable diseases that have caused seniors to fall ill and even die due to being unvaccinated. More than 45,000 adults will die each year because of complications caused by diseases that are preventable via vaccines. Our home care solutions team recognizes that adults often think that they do not need to be vaccinated because they do not think they will fall ill or they worry about the side effects that may occur. You have often heard people say when they receive the flu shot, they get the flu.

Seniors age 65 and older are at the highest risk for complications from vaccine-preventable diseases. It is important that all seniors stay up to date on their vaccines because they may not have received the vaccines they needed as a child or new vaccines may have come out in recent years. It is no surprise that immunity to some disease may fade over time, especially as the disease mutates and becomes resistant to current medications. Our home care solutions team warns that seniors are most susceptible to serious diseases and life-threatening infections and complications.

There are some specific vaccines that seniors should discuss with their physicians and those vaccines include the pneumococcal vaccine to prevent pneumonia, flu vaccine, shingles vaccine, and a Tdap or tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

Pneumonia is responsible for many deaths in seniors. In fact, as many as 60,000 seniors die per year because of it. Seniors who do have a higher risk of developing pneumonia should receive the vaccine. It is a one-time vaccine and will help prevent pneumonia and the complications that may come from it, so our home care solutions team encourages all our senior clients to get it.

Flu Vaccine

The flu vaccine is designed to help prevent the flu and experts do recommend that adults receive the annual vaccine. Patients who also have heart disease or diabetes may want to consider this vaccine. The flu vaccine is often available from September through April.

Shingles Vaccine

The shingles vaccine has only been around for a short period of time and is recommended for adults age 60 and older. Shingles is a very painful condition. Receiving the vaccine can decrease your risk of developing shingles by up to 50 percent and if you do catch it, minimize its severity.

Tdap Vaccine

The Tdap vaccine is recommended for seniors aged 64 and younger to replace their previous tetanus vaccines. This vaccine contains the same components as the traditional tetanus shot but includes a pertussis component as well. However, seniors age 65 and older should NOT receive the vaccine with the pertussis component and only the traditional tetanus vaccine.

With National Immunization Awareness Month around the corner, call Comfort Keepers home care solutions today to learn more about why seniors need immunizations or talk to your doctor today.