​In honor of National Public Health Week, let's talk vaccinations. Did you know that when you get vaccinated, you’re protecting yourself and your community? 

This concept is called community immunity, or herd immunity. And it’s an important reason for you and your family to get vaccinated — so you can help keep yourselves and your community healthy.

How does community immunity work?

Germs can travel quickly through a community and make a lot of people sick. If enough people get sick, it can lead to an outbreak. But when enough people are vaccinated against a certain disease, the germs can’t travel as easily from person to person — and the entire community is less likely to get the disease.

​That means even people who can’t get vaccinated will have some protection from getting sick. And if a person does get sick, there’s less chance of an outbreak because it’s harder for the disease to spread. Eventually, the disease becomes rare — and sometimes, it’s wiped out altogether.

Who does community immunity protect?

Community immunity protects everyone. But it’s especially important because some people can’t get vaccinated for certain diseases — such as people with some serious allergies and those with weakened or failing immune systems (like people who have cancer, HIV/AIDS, type 1 diabetes, or other health conditions).

Community immunity is also important for the very small group of people who don’t have a strong immune response from vaccines.

If vaccines have wiped out some diseases in the United States, can we stop getting vaccinated for them?

No. Many vaccine-preventable diseases that we don’t see much in the United States still make people sick in other countries. So it’s possible for travelers to bring these diseases back to the United States, where they could then spread. If we stop getting vaccinated, we won’t be protected from these diseases — community immunity protects us only if enough people continue to get vaccinated.

If you’re traveling outside of the United States, you may need to get vaccines to keep you healthy and safe. Learn more about travel vaccines.

Best example? Pneumococcal vaccines.

Pneumococcal disease can cause serious infections of the ears, lungs, blood, and brain. Although it’s common in young children, older adults are most at risk for serious pneumococcal infections.

Since the pneumococcal vaccine was approved for use in children, the number of older adults hospitalized for pneumococcal disease has gone way down. This tells us that vaccinating infants protected older adults from the spread of serious pneumococcal infections before a vaccine for older adults was available.

*Information available at: https://www.vaccines.gov/

Spring is about a month away, but we’ve had warm weather on the mind for months (six to be exact). Back in September when everyone was sipping on their PSLs and prepping for fall, we headed up north to the lake for our Spring 2018 photo shoot. Some of the best memories are born at the lake, so there was no better setting to showcase our Spring 2018 collection than our co-founder, Barbara Bradley Baekgaard’s lakehouse on Lake Gage, Indiana.
This year we’re embracing the things you love most — color, friendship, family and of course, pattern. We released our first set of spring patterns earlier this month, but this is just the beginning (you can preview our spring patterns here). There’s a lot to be excited about, and we’re giving our blog readers a special sneak peek at the rest of the season. Let’s jump in!

As we get older, our friendships become deeper, more complex. The circumstances under which they’re formed often change as we get wrapped up in our day-to-day lives, filled with marriage, children or work. But some friendships remain constants in our lives, and continue to define who we are and how we see the world. Despite challenges, true friendships are those which give without expecting in return, are there when needed, and go beyond time or place. #DOFRIENDSHIP #PANDORAUNIVERSE