Skip to content

Organization Menu

Additional Organization Links

Search and Explore

Blog

Childhood Vaccines in Times of COVID-19

By 

René F. Najera, DrPH

August 1, 2020

As the COVID-19 Pandemic continues, public health authorities in the United States are sound the alarm that . They explain that the falling number of children who are caught up on their vaccinations is due to parents wanting to avoid exposing themselves and their children to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. There are also "stay at home" recommendations in many parts of the country, leading parents to delay medical check-ups where vaccines are usually given to children. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), this is a problem:

In order to address some of the issues surrounding vaccine hesitancy and delays in the time of COVID-19, AMA has written . One of these tips is the use of telemedicine (or "telehealth") to check-in with parents online at their home and determine if a child needs a vaccine, then make the necessary appointment with all safety precautions to get the child vaccinated. Drive-thru vaccination clinics coinciding with flu vaccination season are also discussed.

In 2019, it only took a small decrease in the proportion of children who were immune against measles for the disease to make a comeback in a spectacular way. Dozens of outbreaks were reported in the United States and around the world, with the and having tragic consequences for children. During this pandemic, children may not be exposed to each other as before, but there will be a time when they return to school or daycare, and they are going to need to be immune in order to not kick-off outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Public Health experts recommend that you look over the vaccine recommendation schedule for your locality () and consult with your child's healthcare provider on catching up to any missing vaccine doses.

Featured image by on

Tags

  • , 
  • , 
  • , 
  • , 
  • ,