The Recurring Battle with Your Child: Immunizations

You’ve come to the realization that it’s probably not smart to tell your kid that you’re going to the doctor, because of their reaction. But once you pull up into the parking lot of a place they’ve been dozens of times it starts all over again: the crying, the falling out, the screaming. Of course they’ll never understand why something that’s supposed to be good for them hurts so bad, so we’ll explain this to you so you can in turn explain it to them.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month. As the word “awareness” indicates, medical leaders educate patients all over the world, and even each other, on the importance of immunizations. As the current Ebola crisis in Western Africa unfolds, this drives home even more, how important it is to get your children immunized and keep their shots up to date. Once thought to be a disease of the past, Ebola has re-emerged and nearly claimed the life of two Americans that were in the region.

Diseases that clinics and doctors’ offices help you to combat are:

• Hepatitis A/B (contracted via direct contact, food and water; contact with bodily fluids or blood)
• Measles/Mumps/Rubella (All three are contracted by air, direct contact)
• Polio (Contracted by air, direct contact, through the air)
• Pertussis, or Whooping Cough (Contracted by air, direct contact)
• Tetanus, or Lockjaw (Contracted by exposure through cuts in skin)
• Chickenpox (Contracted by air, direct contact)
• TB, or Tuberculosis (Contracted by air)

Has your child ever gone to school one day, seemingly fine, and come home feeling achy and overall horrible? Or you get called at work to come pick up your child because they have a low-grade fever? All it takes is one child wiping their nose with the back of their hand and touching your child or another classmate to contract the common cold. That is frustrating enough. But imagine your child contracting something more serious like Chickenpox or Whooping Cough? These aren’t as easy to get rid of.

The diseases above, and the ways they’re contracted, should be more than enough to prompt you to get your child immunized. Please contact our clinic at (910) 486-5437 if you have questions on which immunizations your child should receive.