Vaccinations & Immunizations in Urgent Care

EPIC Urgent & Family Care provides vaccines and immunizations to all our patients. They are an essential part of staying healthy and protecting yourself against diseases. Children, adults, and seniors can all benefit from immunizations. Conditions such as Influenza, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), and Shingles are avoidable through a vaccine.

What is a vaccine?

A vaccine is an administered medical product to produce immunity from a disease in people and animals. It contains dead or weakened organisms to elicit a response in the immune system. Basically, they prepare the body to fight illness. Each has either a dead or a weakened germ that causes a specific disease. Most vaccines are given through injection, but some can be given orally or sprayed into the nose. Click here to learn more.

What is immunization?

Immunization is the process that happens within the body after vaccination. The body starts practicing fighting against the disease by making antibodies that recognize that specific germ. This response is either permanent or long-lasting and means that the antibodies are already in place in case there is exposure to the actual disease. The body knows precisely how to fight it so the person doesn’t get sick. When this happens, it is called immunity. The process by which it is created is known as immunization follow this link.

How have vaccines improved health?

Since the start of widespread injections, we have entirely eradicated smallpox and nearly eliminated wild polio. The number of people who experience the devastating effects of preventable infectious diseases like measles, diphtheria, and whooping cough has reduced exponentially.

Actually, some diseases are so rare now that parents sometimes ask if they are even needed. But most illnesses that vaccines can prevent still exist worldwide, although they rarely happen.

Vaccines are safe and protect you from preventable diseases. They are crucial for children, as their immune systems are not as robust as adults. They have protected millions of kids from dangerous illnesses and saved thousands of lives.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Will my immune system weaken by relying on vaccines?

The immune system makes antibodies against a specific germ, whether it encounters it naturally or through a vaccine. Being treated against one disease does not weaken the immune response to another infection.

Can a vaccine give me the disease it’s preventing?

Vaccines are made with either:

• Dead bacteria
• Weakened live viruses (attenuated)

It is impossible to get the disease from any made with dead bacteria, viruses, or just part of the bacteria or virus.

Only when it is made from weakened live viruses could it make a child develop the disease for example, varicella and MMR vaccines are both weakened live virus vaccines. But even then, it is a mild form of the disease. Although, children with weak immune systems may have a problem.

Why do we have to get a flu shot every year?

The flu virus is constantly changing to evade our immune system’s response. In other words, it outfoxes our vaccines and immune systems through evolution. The virus changes enough each year that the flu shot we’ve created is no longer effective. Sometimes the flu changes within a single flu season.

Because they are constantly changing, flu shots are updated each season to protect against the viruses. And beyond that, protection from a flu shot declines over time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that most people get the flu vaccine yearly for the best protection.

Epic Urgent Care in Streamwood

A wide variety of immunizations are available for life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Immunizations reduce the incidence of preventable diseases and keep healthcare costs down. Immunizations allow healthcare resources to focus more on people needing care. But, most importantly, they save lives. Healthcare professionals have created a series of immunization schedules to show when people should be treated and when they need vaccine boosters.

Epic Urgent Care provides the following:

• Dtap/Tdap
• Polio
• Pneumococcal
• Meningococcal 
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• MMR
• Hib
• Varicella
• Rotavirus 
• HPV 
• Flu
• Covid-19 vaccines (by appointment only)

Visit EPIC Urgent & Family Care

Get your vaccinations administered, keeping you healthy all season long. Immunizations for adults and children are available at our urgent care locations, walk into any of our clinics and get protected; no appointment is needed.

If you or someone you know needs a vaccine or immunization, urgent care services are here to help. EPIC Urgent & Family care is open seven days a week. We provide quality health care and primary care when it is convenient for your family.