Be Wise Immunize

Talk to Patients About: Flu - 07/31/2024

Flu is serious, and the vaccine can prevent or minimize the illness.

College Students: Put Required Vaccination on To-Do List - 02/21/2024

As young adults make final preparations for college, the physicians of the Texas Medical Association remind college-bound students to put the meningitis vaccination on their to-do list.

Talk to Patients About: Measles - 02/20/2024

Few Americans today remember when measles was deadly. But before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, the disease killed about 2.6 million globally each year. By 2016, vaccination programs cut that number to about 89,000.

Texas is No. 1 in “Hotspots” For Vaccine Exemptions - 09/11/2023

Houston, Fort Worth, Plano, and Austin are among the cities in the nation with the highest number of kindergartners who have not received vaccinations because of nonmedical reasons, according to the study published this week in the journal PLOS Medicine.

Here’s Everything You Need to Spread the Word About Flu Vaccines - 09/06/2023

Today is Texas Influenza Awareness Day, which the Texas Department of State Health Services designated to stress the importance of every Texan over 6 months old receiving a seasonal flu vaccine. The Texas Medical Association’s Be Wise – Immunize program has created several tools and resources you can use to get the word out today and throughout flu season.

Encourage School Vaccinations with Prewritten Letters to the Editor - 08/31/2023

To help you spread the word to families who might have missed or avoided vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Medical Association’s Be Wise – Immunize program and the Texas Pediatric Society have created four prewritten letters to the editor you can send to your local newspaper.

Community Outreach/Giving Back - 07/19/2023

TMA members are encouraged to participate in various TMA public health and outreach programs.

Be Wise Grant Helps San Angelo Prevent Cancer - 07/13/2023

College students must make a lot of decisions for themselves. For students at Angelo State University (ASU) in San Angelo, the decision to get vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV)  came easier thanks to the Concho Valley County Medical Society and TMA’s Be Wise — ImmunizeSM program.

Talk to Patients About: Polio - 08/08/2022

Polio once terrified Americans. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the virus crippled around 35,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because polio often attacked abdominal muscles used to breathe, many died or permanently needed a respirator called an iron lung.

Mom’s Gift of Vaccination Protects Baby From Whooping Cough - 05/02/2022

Moms do all they can to keep their babies safe and healthy. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, the physicians of Texas Medical Association (TMA) urge pregnant moms and moms-to-be to get vaccinated against whooping cough, or pertussis.   

The Doctor Is In: Parents, Don’t Miss Kids’ Routine Care, Vaccinations - 01/14/2022

Across Texas and the nation, many parents are anxious about taking their children to the doctor for fear of exposing them to COVID-19, but physicians are here to offer reassurance and a reminder. While the fear is justifiable, Texas doctors advise parents that routine well visits are safe and important for their child’s health, and assure them “the doctor is in.”

UTHealth San Antonio Long School of Medicine Wins TMA’s Med Student Chapter of Year Award - 10/16/2020

The UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine has received the Texas Medical Association Medical Student Section (TMA-MSS) 2019-20 Chapter of the Year Award. TMA’s House of Delegates policymaking body announced the award during its virtual meeting earlier this month.

Vaccination Social Media Toolkit - 09/30/2020

The Texas Medical Association’s Be Wise – ImmunizeSM program has created a variety of shareable social media assets to help you convey that vaccinations for children and adults are important, safe, and effective. Please click on the links below to save and share to your social media pages.

Talk to Patients About: Meningococcal B - 08/02/2019

Meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine is the new kid on the block for children and adolescents, having won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2014. This presents a problem for physicians: Because there is an older vaccine for the other types of meningococcal bacteria, many patients who’ve had that vaccine wrongly believe they’re also protected against MenB.

Talk to Patients About: Texas School Vaccinations - 07/08/2019

All Texas public schools (and most private schools) and colleges require students to have certain shots before they can attend classes.

Talk to Patients About: Rotavirus - 07/02/2019

Rotavirus is a highly contagious viral infection that inflames the lining of the stomach and intestines, and especially affects children 2 years old and younger. In the United States, the introduction of a vaccine in 2006 helped arrest rotavirus illnesses and deaths.

TMA Names UTRGV Med Student Chapter of Year - 05/20/2019

DALLAS - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine on Friday received the Texas Medical Association Medical Student Section (TMA-MSS) 2018-19 Chapter of the Year Award.

Talk to Your Patients About: Rubella - 12/10/2018

December’s Texas Medicine magazine spotlights rubella, or German measles, a serious illness that is especially dangerous to pregnant women because it causes miscarriages, stillbirths, and severe birth defects.

Talk to Your Patients About: Hepatitis A - 05/15/2018

Doctors like to tell people to wash their hands. Hepatitis A is one of the biggest reasons why. Hepatitis A is a liver disease spread mostly by dirty hands. Specifically, it’s spread by fecal matter — even in microscopic amounts — that moves from those dirty hands into food and drinks.