We know that vaccines are one of the most effective ways to protect children from deadly diseases. However, the CDC says the number of children who are up to date with their routine vaccinations has declined in recent years.
"It's important because it helps them be safer when we're out in public. Like, when you have a newborn, you don't bring them out until they have their immunizations because you don't want them to get sick," Raynna Hammon who's a mother of seven children. "My oldest is 15. My youngest is fixing to be four."
Hammon has ensured that all of her children have been fully immunized. However, the CDC says, not all parents have because they're noticing less children are up to date on their immunizations.
"We have not seen diseases like measles and even chickenpox in a really long time because these vaccines are so effective," explained Dr. Michelle Fiscus, Chief Medical Officer of the Association for Immunization Managers.
However, vaccines are only effective when taken and, though statistically Covid-19 doesn't negatively impact children as much as it does older adults, medical professionals warn that children who aren't vaccinated are still at risk.
Last year, Covid-19 was the leading cause of death among children from an infectious disease. "We had more children die from Covid-19 than we did from influenza or even from pneumonia," said Dr. Fiscus.
This is why the CDC is trying to make vaccines more accessible to children through their federally funded Vaccines for Children Program. "It's critically important to protecting those communities, often which are Black and brown communities who are disproportionately impacted by low income and to make sure that the community at large and our families in our own communities stay safe from these vaccine-preventable diseases," explained Dr. Fiscus.
Through the program, children who are on Medicaid or under-insured can receive all of their immunizations free of charge. "Whether that's measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, flu, covid," said Dr. Fiscus.
Here are the Covid vaccination guidelines for children: Children five years and older should get one dose, especially if the last time they were vaccinated was in September, and children between six months and four years old are recommended to receive two doses.
"And, unfortunately, babies under the age of six months can't receive a vaccine yet. So, making sure that the people around them are vaccinated is really important to keeping that baby healthy, too," explained Dr. Fiscus.
There's also an option for vaccine co-administration. That's when more than one vaccine is administered at the same time. "It also just allows children to get their vaccine up to date as quickly as possible so that they're protected more quickly than when we space vaccines out over a long period of time," explained Dr. Fiscus.
Click here for more information https://covidvaccineproject.org/ [covidvaccineproject.org]
