3 ways to help get more children immunized

Follow me on Twitter @drClaire There is much to celebrate during National Infant Immunization Week this year. More than 90% of children 19 to 35 months have received all the recommended doses of vaccines for their age against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and hepatitis B — and more than 80% have received all the recommended protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, pneumococcus, and Haemophilus influenzae. But there are also reasons to be concerned. Only 72% have had all the recommended vaccines, which means one in four children is missing at least one. Even more concerning, studies show that there are geographic clusters of underimmunized or unimmunized children — and it’s within these clusters that vaccine-preventable diseases can sprout up, and spread, quickly. Vaccines save lives. They have dramatically decreased the incidence of many diseases that used to cause real harm and even death. Illnesses that used to be dreaded are now becoming almost forgotten. But vaccines don’t work if children don’t get them. Here are three ways we can work together to save more lives: 1.   Make sure that all children have access to health care. It isn’t just vaccine hesitancy that gets in the way of vaccination. For many families, it’s more about not having a doctor nearby — or not having health insurance or other means of paying for health care. While there are programs that help with the cost of the vaccines themselves, they don’t cover the cost...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Children's Health Infectious diseases Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs