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Many infants don't get vaccinations on time
A large group of American parents are having a tough time keeping up with their kids' vaccination schedules. More than a quarter of all children are under-vaccinated, with missed doses accounting for the bulk of the non-compliance. The experts say the trend--which increases the risk of disease among the country's most vulnerable population--can in part be explained by the large number of vaccinations that are required. The authors of this new study examined vaccination schedules for 2003 and 2004, when children were expected to get up to 14 shots by the age of 18 months. That number has since risen even higher.
"This is a little bit of a wake-up call--not a huge one--that you need to make sure to do the best you can to get children vaccines when they're supposed to get them," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Health Day. Kids can catch up on their vaccinations later in life.
- read the article in the Washington Post
ALSO: Parents of autistic children are advocating a "philosophical objection" law in New York that would give parents the right to skip required vaccinations. Report
Comments
By Anthony Penzarella | Posted 1:41pm | May 2, 2008
What can vaccine producers in the US and around theworld do to increase the rates of early childhood immunizations? Clearly, parents can catch heir kids up on certain vaccines that are not crucial in the first few weeks of life, but why wait to catch up and increase the risk to their children?
Question to the pediatirc officesout there? What would be a good tool or program to make sure parents knew when it was time to vaccinate early instead of catch-up? And why don't pediatricians offices / hopsitals/ clinics already have these tools?
Vendors? weigh in?
By Anonymous | Posted 12:10pm | July 31, 2008
Over the past few years, lots of questions have surfaced surrounding the proposed vaccine schedule and about the additives in vaccines--high level of mercury. While I am not completely supporting the theories here, and in fact my kids are fully vaccinated, with all of the questions in the air I am not sure as to what I would do if I were faced with it today.
The question to pose is WHY are so many parents waiting to vaccinate their kids??? And if there is the option to wait on some of these things, then the governmental and trade agencies aligned with these industries need to make public recommendations quickly.
By RS | Posted 12:44pm | February 12, 2009
I see nothing wrong with parents being concerned about the number of vaccines that their children are getting. Hey, where are the Lime disease vaccines (recalled), what about the swine flu and simian virus contamination in the late 50 and early 60's. Vaccines are not perfect.
By Anonymous | Posted 4:18pm | February 17, 2009
This has become an extremely volatile topic of discussion. Many
parents are educating themselves regarding vaccinations and by
doing so are becoming more hesitant to have their children
given a series of vaccinations.
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