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Three Key Vaccines for Your Preteen

As they grow from babies to big kids, children routinely get well-child checkups to make sure they're healthy and developing as they should. But as tots start moving toward their teens, visits to the doctor tend to become fewer and farther between. In fact, research shows that preteens generally see their doc only when they're sick, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That's why the federal agency is urging parents to schedule a checkup for 11- to 12-year-olds, complete with three now-highly-recommended vaccines that can protect kids from some serious, sometimes deadly diseases.

Here's a quick look at these immunizations and why it's so important that kids get them:

1. MCV4: Provides protection from meningococcal disease - a serious bacterial infection that can lead to bacterial meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. Although meningococcal infections are rare, bacterial meningitis is highly contagious and causes long-term problems for 15% of teens who get it and kills about 10% of adolescents who are infected, says the CDC.
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