National Immunization Awareness Week is being recognized this week.

For the week, the Cypress Health Region is educating the public about the importance of receiving available vaccinations and the importance of keeping vaccinations up to date.

Dr. David Torr, Consulting Medical Health Officer for the Cypress Health Region, expands on that importance.

"The very outbreak of Mumps has illustrated the importance of continued immunization," he said. "When we don't see the diseases circulating, we tend to relax or lay back and think nothing is going on, but it doesn't take much for an illness to get back into the system."

The consulting Medical Health Officer also shares a common misconception behind the practice of immunization.

"These imunizations do work; they do help protect you against illness. However, some people believe that the immunization is supposed to make sure that you don't get the illness at all. But, you can still get the illness if you're immunized. The difference is that when you're immunized, the severity is much less and the duration is much shorter." said Dr. Torr.

For a list of available immunization clinics, as well as immunizations provided by the health region, click here.