HEALTHY FAMILY
Back to School
Should My Child
Get Vaccinated?
health reasons or whose parents chose not to
vaccinate them.

“Some of those problems can be found with
children who are undergoing chemotherapy
for cancer, who are taking immunosuppres-
sant medications for autoimmune diseases,
Why are vaccines so important?
who have rare immunodeficiencies or who
“Vaccines reduced major diseases that used
have diabetes,” says Dr. Caren Kirschner,
to be major problems, and killers in kids,”
a pediatrician at Fox Chase Pediatrics in
Krugman says.

“Vaccines help teach the immune system Philadelphia.

“Another consideration is that chil-
how to recognize and fight off diseases that
can harm or kill children. This helps keep dren under 1 aren’t routinely vaccinated
children healthy and prevents the spread of against measles, mumps, rubella or chicken
vaccine-preventable diseases to others,” says pox,” which are all required school-age vac-
Katie Lockwood, a pediatrician at Children’s cines, she adds.

“Sometimes parents tell me that they
Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Pediatricians also note that vaccinating think their child’s immune system isn’t
your child also helps protect children who strong enough to handle vaccines because
might not be able to get vaccinated for other they have a chronic health condition like
24 Washington FAMILY SEPTEMBER 2022
asthma or sickle cell anemia, but these chil-
dren actually need these vaccines even more
to prevent complications from these dis-
eases,” Lockwood says.

You can find an updated list of school vac-
cination requirements from state health
departments through the CDC at cdc.gov/
vaccines/imz-managers/awardee-imz-web- sites.html. Philadelphia also has a local
immunization program.

Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Phila-
delphia all allow parents to opt out of these
requirements for religious or medical rea-
sons. Pennsylvania also allows exemptions
for personal reasons.

If you aren’t sure vaccines are safe for
your child considering their health history,
talk to your child’s doctor.

FATCAMERA / E+ / GETTY IMAGES
A ccording to the World Health Orga-
nization, vaccination prevents 3.5
million to 5 million deaths globally
each year. Yet, in recent years the number of
unvaccinated children has skyrocketed.

We talked to pediatricians to find out
why and to learn how parents can keep their
kids safe.

Due to the pandemic, many kids missed
their routine vaccinations. Local pediatri-
cians note that it’s critical to preventing
the spread of disease and protecting their
peers that children get caught up on their
missed shots.

“It could get really ugly this year,” says
Scott Krugman, vice chair of pediatrics at
the Herman & Walter Samuleson Children’s
Hospital at Sinai. “The overall numbers
(of vaccinated children) have dropped
significantly.” According to Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), the number of children receiving
their vaccines has dropped by 1 percentage
point since the start of the pandemic. Chil-
dren’s National Hospital in Washington,
D.C. also noted a significant declie in vacci-
nation rates among children.

BY HEATHER M. ROSS



HEALTHY FAMILY
If your child has already had
COVID-19 is vaccination still
important? While a COVID-19 vaccine is not required
to enter schools this year in Maryland and
Pennsylvania, it is required for ages 12 and
older in Washington, D.C. State and local
officials also recommend it.

While most people have been primarily
concerned about older adults getting seri-
ously ill from COVID-19, children aren’t
immune to serious illness. COVID-19 was
the third to fifth leading cause of death
between 2020 and 2021 across most age
groups, according to Krugman, and an arti-
cle published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association cites COVID-19 as the
fourth leading cause of death for ages 15-24
from January to October in 2021.

“The immune response might protect the
child in the future or it might not,” Krugman
says. “Children with mild cases may not have
a big immune response to the virus and may
still be at risk of getting it.”
According to Krugman, for the best pro-
tection, children who have had COVID-19
should still get the vaccine. After having
COVID-19, you can wait three months after
your infection before getting vaccinated,
according to the CDC.

For the best protection heading back into
the school year, parents should be sure to
take their child to get a booster shot about
five months after their COVID-19 vaccina-
tion, according to Krugman.

Why are vaccination rates
dropping? According to pediatricians, the primary
cause for vaccine rates dropping is medical
misinformation, aided by the ease of infor-
mation sharing online.

“There was a lot of opportunity for people
to provide misinformation to make parents
scared of the vaccine. Once you go down the
rabbit hole of vaccine misinformation on the
internet for (COVID-19), it’s easy to find
that for all vaccines,” Krugman says.

Because people are no longer used to
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seeing many of the diseases vaccines protect
us from, many don’t understand how serious
they can be. Krugman says that COVID-19
has exacerbated this issue greatly.

The best place to get information about
vaccines, their benefits and any risks is
directly from your child’s pediatrician.

“It’s important to share your particu-
lar concerns with your healthcare provider
so that they can have a meaningful conver-
sation with you that is individualized and
builds trust,” Lockwood says.

If your child is anxious about getting
a vaccine, understanding why vaccines
are important can help them overcome
their fears.

For older children, Lockwood recom-
mends a more scientific approach. For
younger children, the answer could be as
simple as, “to keep us healthy.” Telling your
children about your experience getting vac-
cinated can also help them see it’s not bad
or that scary. T
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