Vacunación en Niños y Adultos (ENARM)

Child and adolescent care is the area of healthcare dedicated to individuals who are beyond the immediate neonatal age through adulthood. These individuals do not present a uniform group, but are a series of patient populations, each with evolving healthcare needs (both preventive and pathologic) unique to them. Appropriate care aims to ensure optimal overall health to promote the physical, emotional, and social well-being of these often-challenging populations. Primary care physicians are usually responsible for child and adolescent care. Well-child visits are scheduled yearly for this purpose. These visits are an opportunity to obtain a detailed clinical history, monitor physiologic and psychologic development, assess growth parameters, and perform a thorough physical examination. Age-specific screenings, counseling, and vaccinations should also be completed at these times.

Vaccination is the administration of a substance to induce the immune system to develop protection against a disease. Unlike passive immunization, which involves the administration of pre-performed antibodies, active immunization constitutes the administration of a vaccine to stimulate the body to produce its own antibodies. A vaccine is usually an antigenic, non-virulent form of a normally virulent microorganism. Vaccinations are a form of primary prevention and are the most effective form due to their safety, efficacy, low cost, and easy access. While the majority of vaccines are administered to young patients, some vaccines are targeted to diseases that occur in middle and old age, and are therefore administered to older patients.