Timely Vaccinations Prevent Disease
We
have come a long way in this country in the last century in preventing
death and disease in children. Disease
and death from diphtheria, pertusis,
tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella
and other infectious diseases are at or near record lows due to
vaccination. Vaccination
has been one of the most successful disease prevention strategies in
public health and in some cases infectious diseases have been
essentially eradicated. There
have been no acquired cases of polio caused by wild poliovirus
reported in the United States since 1979.
These strides against disease are the remarkable success of the
appropriate use of safe and effective vaccines.
National Infant Immunization Week begins Sunday, April 16th
and this is a time to emphasize the importance of timely vaccinations.
In fact, this is so important that state law has been enacted
requiring that children are immunized by the time they first enter
school. Is your child on
schedule for their vaccinations?
If you are uncertain, check with your family medicine physician
of nurse practitioner, or your pediatrician.
The centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced
changes in the recommended childhood immunization schedule.
These changes resulted from the recommendation to use
inactivated polio virus vaccine (IPV) alone for routine childhood
polio vaccination, to remove rotavirus vaccine from the schedule, and
to use a cellular pertusis (whooping cough ) vaccines for all doses of
pertusis vaccine series. Further,
hepatitis A vaccination is now recommended for use in selected areas
of the United States with high rates of Hepatitis A.
These recommendations for changes in the immunization schedule
have also been reviewed and approved by the American Academy of
Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians.
There are few things that you can do for your child that are
more important than vaccination.
Keep a personalized vaccine record on each of your children and
make certain that they get their immunizations as close to the
recommended time as possible.
If you are planning any
trips outside of the United States some foreign countries require or
recommend special vaccinations to provide protection against some of
the indigenous diseases. This
information can be obtained through these Centers for Disease Control
well in advance of any planned travel.
As I have mentioned, this is of such high
importance that in 1994 an entire week in April has been dedicated and
declared “National Infant Immunization Week” to focus attention on
the importance of proper immunization for infants and toddlers.
Communities across the country will be active this week to
increase the awareness of an access to immunization services by
expanding clinic hours. Look
for these opportunities and be certain that your child is on schedule
for their vaccinations. |
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