California Department of Public Health Celebrates Preteen Vaccination Week!

February 12-18, 2012!

The goal of 2012’s Preteen Vaccine Week campaign is raise awareness about California’s new Tdap requirement for incoming 7thgrade students, immunization recommendations for 11-and 12-year-olds,  and promote the preteen doctor visit through multiple avenues such as schools, providers, and the media.ACIP currently recommends that 11- and 12-year-olds receive these vaccines:Tdap tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough:

For the 2012-13 school year and beyond, all students entering 7th  grade will need proof of a

Tdap booster shot before starting school

Meningococcal

Annual flu vaccine

HPV human papillomavirus 3-shot series

A total of 2 vaccines against chickenpox varicella

via Preteen Vaccine Week.

Vaccinations are a hot topic…many parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children for various concerns that are legitimate at least in their views at the time.

• Children depend on adults, mostly  their parents, to make decisions for them with regard to their health and well-being.
• Vaccinations can and do prevent children from contracting many potentially fatal diseases.

Since the 50’s when polio was essentially eradicated with the  then controversial Salk vaccine, parents have been very vocal and anxious about vaccines given to their kids. In recent years, fears of a connection with the development of autism have fueled the vaccination controversy. Now, the news that a vaccine for the sexually transmitted HPV virus is recommended for young teens has stimulated another fear that this vaccination will in fact increase the numbers of teens engaging in sexual intercourse.

What ever side of this controversy you are on when it comes time for your kids to be vaccinated remember, they are innocent and are counting on you to protect them from harm.

If you feel that vaccinations should not be given to your child, for goodness sake, do all your homework and make sure you are totally aware of the consequences of some of the diseases that your child will be at risk for acquiring. Weigh the pros and cons, make sure that the risks are worth taking.

I am not a risk taker and I would not put my child at risk for these preventable childhood diseases…as a medical professional, I would do my homework and probably spread the recommended vaccinations out over a longer period of time. With my current knowledge,  I would choose to have my child immunized.

My personal feeling is this, by not vaccinating my child against potentially fatal childhood diseases I may actually be neglecting my duties as a parent and my child could die because of my neglect…but that is just my opinion.