Vaccinations

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we're talking about an uncomfortable subject, not because

it's uncomfortable to talk about, but because it's, well, it doesn't really feel good when

you have to go do it.

That's right.

Today we're going to the doctor, but because we need to get vaccines.

All right.

So vaccines, these are, well, let's listen out during the dialogue and maybe you can

guess what this word means when we come back, we'll be defining it for you, talking about

different kinds of vaccines, but just remember that we're talking about going to the doctor

to get these shots.

So let's take a listen to that dialogue.

Hello Mrs. Parker.

How have you been?

Hello, Dr. Peters.

Just fine.

Thank you.

Ricky and I are here for his vaccines.

Very well.

Let's see.

According to the vaccination record, Ricky has received his polio, tetanus and hepatitis

B shots.

He is 14 months old, so he is due for hepatitis A, chicken pox and measles shots.

What about rubella and mumps?

Well, I can only give him these for now and after a couple of weeks I can administer the

rest.

Okay, great.

Doctor, I think I also may need a tetanus booster.

Last time I got it was maybe 15 years ago.

We'll check our records and I'll have the nurse administer the booster as well.

Now please hold Ricky's arm tight.

This may sting a little.

All right, we're back.

So now let's take a look at all of these words that are a little bit difficult, but we'll

try to define them on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

So Marco, first off, what is a vaccine?

So a vaccine we can say is a type of medicine.

But it's basically an injection or medicine where you're helping a person defend him or

herself against a specific type of disease.

Okay, so vaccination is medicine you receive before you're sick so that in the future you

won't get sick with that disease.

That's right.

So that's a vaccine.

There are many, many different types of vaccines.

And of course, when you do get them, you need to keep track of them via a vaccination record.

So a record is basically a list or a document that shows what has been done.

And this is very important when you go to the doctor to have a record of the things

that you have received, the vaccines you've received.

So for example, if I have a baby and I want the baby to have vaccinations, we'd have to

keep a record of all of his vaccinations.

That's right.

So we are, obviously we get different vaccines at different stages in our life.

Let's talk about some of the ones that we're taking a look at today.

So for example, we have a tetanus vaccine or a tetanus shot.

All right, the tetanus shot is very famous because it's maybe the most painful.

It really makes you sore for a little while.

And most people get the tetanus shot when they're very young.

This prevents you from getting the disease tetanus.

And tetanus is something you can get from animals or from dirty nails, dirty metal,

anything that pokes out at you.

And so you get the tetanus shot, but then after your tetanus shot, every five or 10

years, you need to get a booster shot.

So there's the tetanus shot and there's the tetanus booster.

So when we talk about a booster, when we're talking about vaccines, is basically you are

reinforcing it.

You are making it stronger because obviously over time it becomes weak.

The medicine won't last forever.

So you need to get a booster to make sure that you are still protected.

Basically it's an update.

That's right.

So we have tetanus and tetanus booster, but we have another kind of vaccine.

The disease here is called hepatitis.

That's right.

So we're taking a look at hepatitis B and hepatitis A. So there are different types

of hepatitis.

That's right.

So both kinds of hepatitis you can catch from other people.

Although hepatitis A, I believe you can catch from saliva or contact.

Whereas hepatitis B you catch from other people's blood or if you have a relationship with

someone.

So hepatitis A and B are different.

Hepatitis B affects your liver and so there's different kinds of severity here.

Now hepatitis A and B there are vaccinations for.

You can get those shots and it's very important if you're traveling to places that require

them so that you don't get sick.

Okay.

So, well, these different types of hepatitis, they are dangerous, right?

And they could be fatal.

But another one that's very, very common, especially with young kids, we have chicken

pox.

Chicken pox.

Now it's kind of a funny name, chicken pox, P-O-X.

But it's also like you say, very common.

So basically the symptoms are what?

You get these red bumps all over your body and they itch.

You want to scratch and scratch and scratch.

And so I remember when I had this, I was a little kid.

My mom said, don't scratch because if you scratch, it will leave a mark.

Right.

It leaves a scar.

So yeah, chicken pox, you get these little rashes all over your body.

They're very itchy, but they will go away with time.

Now it's usually, I've heard that it's recommended that people get it.

Actually you should get it when you're young because it's more dangerous if you get it

as an adult.

That's right.

It's very painful as an adult.

So basically chicken pox, they say if you get it once, you can't get it again.

You'll never get it again.

So if you get it as an adult, it's shingles, it's very painful.

Okay, very good.

So we've taken a look at a lot of vocab here.

Why don't we now jump to another section.

Let's continue talking about these different types of vaccines.

Let's go to language takeaway part two.

All right.

So we have this special category of vaccinations.

They usually go together.

We have mumps, measles, and rubella, or there's a special acronym, MMR, mumps, measles, rubella.

Okay.

So you basically get like a little combo.

You usually get all three of them at one go.

So what are these measles?

All right.

Measles.

Well, measles is a virus.

He's got the measles.

You often read books from like the 19th century where everyone gets the measles when they're

a child.

But measles is basically a virus, but it's kind of like the chicken pox because you get

a rash on your skin.

And is it fatal?

Can you die from the measles?

I think in the old days you could, but these days it's pretty, pretty easy to take care

of.

And what about mumps?

Now mumps, I'm not too sure about this, but I've heard that mumps is like a swelling in

the space between your jaw and your ear.

So you know where your ear kind of comes down to your jaw.

That part of your head starts to swell and is very uncomfortable.

Right.

And it could cause, like the consequences could be fatal, right?

That's right.

So what about rubella?

Rubella is another kind of rash.

And from my reading, I saw that rubella is not very dangerous for most people, but it

is very dangerous for pregnant women.

So most pregnant women are tested for rubella or the rubella vaccine, and they're told to

get the vaccine before they're pregnant so that they don't get this disease and harm

their baby because they can have a miscarriage if they get rubella while they're pregnant.

Right, right.

Okay, so pretty much you want to get all these vaccines to make sure that you don't get sick

in the future.

Now, when we were talking about getting the vaccines, the doctor said, he didn't say you're

going to get the vaccines or I'm going to give you a vaccine.

He said, I'll have the nurse administer the vaccine or administer the booster.

That's right.

So the verb here that we use with vaccine is to administer.

And this is something that the nurse does or the doctor does.

And it's just a way to say that the nurse will give you this shot, to give you a shot.

But administer is more formal.

It's more common in the medical kind of medical talk.

So you'd say administer the test or administer the vaccine.

So for example, a doctor would say, I'm going to administer a shot of penicillin.

That's right.

Or I'm going to administer this blood test.

That means I'm actually going to do it right now.

Now, obviously these vaccines, some of them you can take as a little pill.

Some of them you can take as drops, like, you know, it's very painless, but some of

them you have to get a shot and sometimes they do hurt.

And we saw in the dialogue that the doctor said, this may sting a little.

Doctors always say this before they give you a shot.

This may sting a little.

Now sting is a verb that means to hurt, but it's not like I hit you in the face, boom,

it stings.

No, a sting is like a kind of a very kind of light hurt.

It's like a pinch.

It's like a small, sharp pain, small, sharp pain.

That's a good way to describe it.

So oftentimes we talk about bees, you know, bees that fly around, they sting you.

Right.

Right.

So it's a small, sharp pain.

Right.

Okay.

Very good.

So let's listen to the dialogue again.

Let's keep a lookout for how we pronounce all of these words and we'll be back in a

bit.

Hello, Mrs. Parker.

How have you been?

Hello, Dr. Peters.

Just fine, thank you.

Ricky and I are here for his vaccines.

Very well.

Let's see.

According to his vaccination record, Ricky has received his polio, tetanus and hepatitis

B shots.

He is 14 months old, so he is due for hepatitis A, chicken pox and measles shots.

What about rubella and mumps?

Well, I can only give him these for now and after a couple of weeks I can administer the

rest.

Okay, great.

Doctor, I think I also may need a tetanus booster.

Last time I got it was maybe 15 years ago.

We'll check our records and I'll have the nurse administer the booster as well.

Now please hold Ricky's arm tight.

This may sting a little.

So nowadays, most of these shots are administered when the babies are just born.

They're still in the hospital and they get a lot of vaccines to prevent them from getting

these things.

That's right.

I remember when I was a kid, we didn't even have a vaccine for chicken pox.

So these days there are more and more.

The oldest I think is the polio vaccine, the one that we hear the most about because it

was a very serious disease that affected a lot of people up until the 1940s and 50s,

I believe.

So yeah, it's important really to read about these things and to educate yourself so that

you know what you should get yourself and your kids.

That's exactly right because it's very important.

Most of these diseases or most of these viruses have been eradicated because more and more

people have had access to vaccines.

Like for example, polio, it's very rare you would say to actually get it nowadays because

there's a vaccine, but it's very, very important I think.

But some people get a little bit too nervous.

Like for example, whenever they travel to a tropical country, they're always afraid

of yellow fever, so they get yellow fever shots.

But I've never really seen anyone get yellow fever because you go to like Thailand for

a week.

A friend of mine went to Thailand and got dengue fever.

So there's no vaccination for this, but it is a very painful disease you can get in tropical

places.

So I think the moral is talk to your doctor, see what he or she suggests because they will

understand maybe better than you will.

And then just follow their advice for different places that you're traveling to.

That's right.

So that's all the time we have for today, but if you guys have any questions or doubts,

you can always visit us at our website EnglishPod.com and we'll be there to answer it.

Bye everyone.

Eoin Le Know at elo titlo.com