Restarting vaccination

Adults with both unknown and well-documented history of vaccination should seek advice from their family physician with regard to the next necessary vaccination injections.

An adult's need for vaccination injections depends on:

which vaccines have already been administered (in case of an unknown vaccination history, if necessary, tests can provide further information). The so-called excessive vaccination is safe.
what are the risks associated with the work (which pathogens the person is exposed to due to their work);
whether or not there are dangerous outbreaks of diseases in Estonia (the Health Boards informs of such outbreaks);
travel destinations planned for the near future and how long it is planned to stay there.

If a course of vaccinations has not been completed, it is worth remembering that even the first immunisation injection put the immune system to work. This shapes an immunological memory that may weaken, but does not disappear. Each subsequent vaccination injection helps to recover the immunological memory and improve the body's natural defence capability. Therefore, it is not necessary, for those behind on the immunization programme, to start from the very beginning again or to administer extra doses; instead, they should just continue from where the vaccination course was interrupted.

For many serious infectious diseases, vaccination is the most effective prevention tool among scientifically investigated methods of protection. In the light of statistics collected over the past century, it can be confirmed that several serious diseases in Estonia have receded due to vaccination injections. However, this invisible shield will remain in force only until the level of vaccinated people remains sufficiently high.