Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership Blog ~ Patient Empowerment

Plain language examples for vaccines

Between the annual flu shot and the new COVID vaccines, there is a lot of talk about vaccinations right now! Some of the words and phrases can be confusing. Here are some plain language translations for common vaccine terms.

Vaccinations/immunizations: When a person is given medicine to make their body learn to fight a disease.

Adverse reaction: An unexpected health outcome – like redness or an allergic reaction.

Antibody: A protein your body makes to fight illness.

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Let's talk about Plain Language

One best practice for improving health literacy is to use plain language. Plainlanguage.gov describes plain language as "communication your audience can understand the first time they read or hear it". Written material is in plain language if your audience can:

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