August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) . With the new school year about to start — and flu season right around the corner — it’s a great time to remind people in your community that getting all recommended vaccines protects against serious illness. Thanks to widespread vaccination, some childhood diseases like polio have been officially eliminated in the United States.

National Immunization Awareness Month provides us an opportunity to think about how far the development and advancement of immunization science has come, and its impact on public health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plays a key role in immunization by evaluating vaccines for safety and effectiveness before they are made available to the public.