Southern Illinois Healthcare is encouraging parents to bring their kids in for routine immunizations, even though the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing.
Parents may have put off routine visits when the pandemic began, but now that it’s clear the coronavirus will be a concern for a while, SIH wants parents to remember that it’s still important to bring children in for their vaccinations.
Pediatrician Tandy Korte said it’s especially important for babies under 18 months to get all their immunizations on schedule so they are protected from preventable illnesses.
“It typically takes a series of immunizations to get a child’s antibody levels up, to where it’s protective for the child, and so it’s not a onetime thing. We need to bring them back on a schedule to boost their immunization and increase their antibody load,” Korte said.
With vaccination rates falling across the globe, Korte and her colleagues are worried existing disease could make a resurgence.
“So certain diseases like measles and diphtheria, if the immunization rates drop, those are easy diseases to start sprouting back up,” Korte explained.
Korte said physicians are taking many precautions to keep kids safe when they come in for an appointment, including screenings by phone and at the door, wearing mask, and bringing patients straight to exam rooms when they arrive, rather than sitting in a waiting room.
