Immunizations

0:00:00 Here's today's Medical Minute, written by Diane Sirkeel, pediatric nurse practitioner and lecturer, along with Shona Rue, clinical instructor and lecturer from the School of Nursing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A recent report cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics found a troubling decrease in families seeking routine wellness checks for their children and a decrease in routine pediatric vaccination rates. This significant drop is a result of families staying home and avoiding routine healthcare due to concerns with COVID-19. Healthcare professionals want to remind families and pediatric caregivers that wellness care and disease prevention is vitally important and it should be continued during this time. 0:00:45 Routine vaccines and checkups should not be delayed, but rather regularly scheduled to maintain a healthy pediatric population. Limiting additional illness through prevention is key to keeping kids healthy. Health officials highly recommend families and children should plan to get a flu shot this fall as well. We have seen and heard what a virus without a vaccine can do during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to limit hospitalizations, mortality, and additional complications by preventing viruses and disease processes that we have vaccines for. The flu strains change each year, so annual flu shots are our best prevention in treating influenza. Transcribed with Cockatoo