Take the Adolescent Immunization Quiz
Thanks to vaccines, most U.S. children are protected against serious diseases such as measles, mumps, diphtheria, polio, and chickenpox. But what happens to that protection in adolescence? A teen who missed a vaccination or booster as a child may need to be immunized. Sometimes a teen's living situation or medical condition makes it necessary to get a vaccination. Learn more about which immunizations teens need by taking this quiz, based on information from the CDC.
3. The childhood Hib meningitis vaccine protects against meningitis for life.
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The Hib vaccine routinely recommended to prevent serious illness in children provides protection against only the type of meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). It doesn't protect against any other type of meningitis, such as meningococcal or pneumococcal meningitis or viral meningitis. The pneumococcal vaccine is now routinely given to children and may decrease infection by pneumococcal meningitis, although not enough time has elapsed since the beginning of routine pneumococcal immunization to verify that. Children ages 11 and 12 should receive the meningococcal conjugate vaccine to help prevent another type of meningitis. Meningitis is a general term for a viral or bacterial infection of the fluid in a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain. Bacterial meningitis is usually more severe than viral meningitis and may lead to brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disability. Before the 1990s, Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis, but the Hib vaccine has dramatically reduced the occurrence of this illness.
4. Meningitis strikes people of all ages, from infants to the elderly. One particularly virulent and almost always fatal type occasionally infects teens and young adults in colleges, boot camps, and other situations in which they are in close contact. What type of meningitis is it?
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This type of meningitis strikes quickly, causing severe headache, stiff neck, and fever, and is usually fatal. Often, by the time symptoms appear, treatment cannot save the victim. Meningococcal meningitis is spread by droplets in the air and by direct contact with an infected person, including coughing, kissing, and sharing cigarettes, utensils, cups, or lip balm—anything an infected person touches with his or her mouth. Those most at risk for this illness include high school and college students, particularly freshmen living in dormitories; U.S. military recruits; people traveling to countries that have an outbreak of meningococcal disease; and those who might have been exposed to meningitis during an outbreak. Although rare, the illness is significant enough that ACIP recommends all children ages 11 to 12 years of age get the meningococcal vaccine. The vaccine is also recommended for all teens entering high school who have not been previously immunized against it and for college freshmen living in dormitories. The protection lasts about three years.
8. Because teens are young and healthy, they don't need an annual flu vaccination.
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Adolescents are just as likely to get the flu as children or adults. Teens are less at risk for complications of the flu because they are healthy with strong immune systems; those at highest risk for complications are the very young and the elderly. Although flu shots aren’t required for teens, the CDC strongly recommends annual flu shots for everyone, no matter what age.
11. Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine is required for both boys and girls before age 12.
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HPV vaccine is recommended, but not required, for girls and women ages 9 to 24 to prevent genital warts and cervical cancer. The vaccine is given in a series of three shots over several months. Experts suggest that the vaccine be given at the adolescent health care visit at age 11 or 12. Although HPV vaccine has been approved for boys to prevent genital warts, the ACIP has not put the vaccine on its recommended list.
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