Children, school and
school-required vaccinations
Have your school age children
been vaccinated? Just before the school year begins, pediatric nurses and other
registered nurses, employed by pediatricians and family physician's offices are
deluged with school age children in need of school-required vaccinations.
In the western world, the
majority of school age children have their vaccination schedules up to date,
because it is initiated when the children are still infants. There may be
some instances, where children have not been vaccinated or have not received
all of their school- required vaccinations and need to have this brought up to
date.
The parents and guardians of
children who have never been vaccinated, will be confronted with
school-required vaccination, as a pre-requisite for school enrollment.
All parents and
guardians do not necessarily comprehend what childhood vaccinations are or why
they are required by the schools in which they wish to enroll their children. Some
people refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated for different reasons
that may include the fear of vaccinations, lack of knowledge about
vaccinations, as well as personal or religious preferences. One of the other
common fears is that vaccinations may cause the diseases that they are intended
to prevent.
What is the role of pediatric
nurses with respect to school-required vaccination of children?
First, pediatric nurses are
knowledgeable about childhood vaccinations and able to explain to the parents
or guardians of children what a vaccination is, what a vaccination schedule
entails and why vaccinations are so important to the health of their children
and others. They will reassure parents and guardians about the safety of
vaccinations.
The following questions and
answers may also be helpful.
What is a vaccination and why
is it important?
"Vaccination is the
administration of antigenic material (the vaccine) to produce immunity to a
disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by a
pathogen. Vaccination is generally considered to be the most effective and cost
effective method of preventing infectious diseases. The material administered
can either be live but weakened forms of pathogens (bacteria or viruses),
killed or inactivated forms of these pathogens, or purified material such as
proteins." (1)
How are vaccines administered?
"A vaccine administration
may be oral, by injection (intramuscular, intradermal, subcutaneous), by
puncture, transdermal or intranasal." (2)
What is a vaccination schedule?
"A vaccination schedule is
a recommended series of vaccinations including the suggested timing of all
doses." (3)
How does a vaccine work?
"A vaccine is an antigenic
preparation used to produce active immunity to a disease, in order to prevent
or reduce the effects of infection by any natural or 'wild' pathogen." (4)
How many doses of a vaccine are
required?
"Many vaccines require
multiple doses for maximum effectiveness, either to produce sufficient initial
immune response or to boost response that fades over time." (5)
Have vaccination schedules changed over the years?
"In 1900, the smallpox
vaccine was the only one administered to children. By the 1960's children
routinely received five vaccines, for protection against diphtheria, pertussis,
tetanus, polio and smallpox, and as many as eight shots by two years of age. As
of 2007, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now recommends vaccination
against at least sixteen diseases." (6)
What are the current
recommendations for vaccinations for children?
CDC recommendations for
children include the following: childhood vaccinations for
children age 0-6 months include tetanus-diptheria-pertussis (TDP) vaccine,
hepatitis A vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine, HiB vaccine, influenza vaccine,
measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, polio (inactivated vaccine), pneumococcal
vaccine, rotavirus vaccine and varicella (chickenpox) vaccine. (7)
This also includes: children age 11-12 vaccinations
include TDP vaccine, human papillomavirus (for girls), and meningococcus
vaccine. (8)
Residency may be a factor with
respect to a vaccination schedule for school-required vaccination, as
vaccination requirements vary from country to country. The vaccination
schedule that should be adhered to is the one required where the children will
be attending school.
Parents and guardians with
questions about their children's school-required vaccinations, should feel free
to speak with pediatric nurses (as well as other registered nurses or health
care professionals involved in child health care), as they are the ones who
administer vaccinations to children. These may also be administered by their
children's physicians, who will answer questions.
Note that for parents or
guardians who have never been vaccinated, it is a good idea to ask your
physician about your own personal vaccination requirements, to protect
yourself, as well as your family and others, from infectious diseases.
2. Ibid.
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_schedule
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
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