Aubrey Martin believes in vaccinations, but it wasn’t until her youngest began to have seizures when she was just an infant that Martin realized how important it is that all children are vaccinated.

Because vaccines might trigger her seizures, Annie could not undergo the regular schedule of shots that protect children from serious and even potentially deadly diseases like pertussis, chickenpox and meningococcal meningitis.

While Aubrey, her husband Dan and their two older boys were fully vaccinated, it was frightening to realize how many children her daughter was in contact with were not vaccinated. Lincoln County has seen high rates of pertussis in recent years, which can be fatal to infants.

The importance of vaccinating as many children as possible to protect the whole community, including children who can’t be vaccinated for health reasons, is the reason Lincoln County Healthcare is offering free vaccines, along with a $10 gas card to participating families Saturday, Aug. 8 from 9 a.m. to noon at Lincoln Medical Partners in Waldoboro.

The catch-up clinic offers the standard childhood immunizations, such as measles, mumps, pertussis and rubella. It is made possible through a grant from the Elizabeth Ann Leach Charitable Trust. Each clinic will have giveaways and participating families will have the chance to win an iPad.

Lincoln County has one of the highest rates of un-immunized children between the age of 0 and 2 in Maine. As the number of children without the standard childhood vaccination rises, the protection offered by herd immunity declines. Herd immunity is the protection offered everyone when the majority of a population (often about 90 percent) is vaccinated.

Today, Annie has been seizure free for about a year and has now received many of her scheduled vaccinations but Martin said her experience with her youngest has helped her understand how important it is that as many people as possible are vaccinated.

While there are plenty of stories on the Internet that raise concerns about vaccines, Martin said scientific research supports vaccinations for almost all children.

“This has to do with the health and wellbeing of our kids,” said Martin. “You can’t protect them from everything but you can protect them from some things and this is one of those things that in this day and age, you should be able to protect them against.”

For more information about the Aug. 8 clinic, call Laura at 207-563-4780.