January 29, 2018 | Categories: Health Care
To help prevent the spread of disease and protect children against dangerous complications, it’s important for each child to get immunizations for 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age 2.
Virtua pediatrician Eric Dorn, MD, shares the top 10 reasons you should stick to an immunization schedule for your kids.
Younger, smaller children can get sicker than those who get the disease when they’re older. In fact, your baby should get the Hepatitis B vaccine before he leaves the hospital.
When traveling, your baby is more likely to contract a disease, especially if he is not vaccinated. If you’re traveling to a high-risk area, some vaccinations can be given ahead of schedule. Here are tips for how to stay healthy while traveling.
When you follow the schedule, your child will receive multiple vaccines at one time. This is not dangerous. When your child receives multiple vaccines at one time, you reduce your child’s exposure to germs. “No matter how clean the doctor’s office is, the human immune system is exposed to a threat just by being in the pediatrician’s office with other people’s germs,” he says.
The flu shot is recommended for any babies over six months of age from September through April.
Why you shouldn’t skip your flu shot.
While it’s never too late to catch a child up on vaccines, younger children experience fewer side effects such as localized redness, fever and swelling.
New Jersey state law requires a minimum number of vaccinations before your child can be admitted to a preschool or childcare facility. Mostly likely, your child will receive the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot when they are 12 months old, then get a booster around age 4 before starting school.
When the majority of people receive all of their immunizations, it helps all of us stay healthier.
Vaccines do not cause autism. “The correlation between autism and vaccinations has been 100% disproven,” says Dr. Dorn.
The measles outbreak in early 2015 has had a positive outcome; people realize the importance of vaccines. When vaccinated, they are less likely to get measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), and the other 9 other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The schedule was made to protect the young people who are most prone to the serious effects of these illnesses. Any chance we have to protect young babies and save lives with a vaccine is safe, effective and something we should always do.
Read the full article on Virtua.org.
Leave a Reply