At your next visit to the pediatrics clinic, remember this important statistic. Every 20 seconds, one child dies due to a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccine. UNICEF reports other sobering statistics as a part of their campaign to increase the use of vaccines to protect children from these life threatening diseases, but UNICEF is not the only major organization that stands behind the importance of vaccinations for children.
The University Pediatric Association is in support of guidelines that the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics have put forward. For children pediatric vaccinations are important because these diseases have not been eradicated, even though they are occurring at record low levels. In the United States, children are still killed by diseases such as Rubella, and Measles. Did you know that receiving a diphtheria vaccination can make a child four times less likely to suffer from the disease?
There are two big reasons to have your child vaccinated.
- To protect the health of your child.
- To protect the health of other children.
Did you know that in rare cases, a vaccinated child may not develop full immunity to the disease? When this happens, any child that is not vaccinated can increase the risk of infection for those children that were vaccinated, but were unable to develop full immunity. The American Academy of Pediatrics cautions that to maintain a healthy community, every child should be vaccinated.
Of course, as a parent, your permission is required before your child can be vaccinated. Pediatrics doctors will communicate the risks to you before initiating any vaccines. For children pediatric vaccinations might include the following.
- Measles and Rubella (German Measles)
- Mumps
- Tetanus
- Polio
- Pertussis
- Hepatitis A, and B
- Chickenpox
This list is not exhaustive. For children pediatric vaccinations should be administered on a schedule. You can ask your pediatric physicians about which vaccines are required by the public schools in your state, in order for your child to be allowed to attend. Your pediatric office can also supply further information on the safety of vaccines, and any other actions you can take to keep your child, safe, happy, and healthy. Find out more about this topic here.
