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Check-Ups and Immunizations
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What We Learn |
Every child needs regular medical examinations & immunizations
Maintain your child’s health to prevent illnesses
Your kid’s health is important to the community
Contact your city or county health department
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Supply List |
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There is no supply list for this activity |
How-To |
In the first year of life, children are usually seen at 2 weeks as well as at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months. Most of these visits correspond to the need to give immunizations, but also allows your physician to check on your child’s growth and development.
Immunizations and vaccinations are essentially interchangeable words. In most cases these are shots and are given to prevent known childhood diseases. A shot is any injection and may be given as an immunization/vaccination, but could also be given as treatment for a specific illness.
The immunizations provide stimulus to the body in the form of a “shot” that induces the child’s body to develop antibodies. These antibodies are like memory cells that are stored in the child’s body and are recruited to fight disease once a child is exposed to that specific disease or germ.
There are several vaccinations that are recommended. They include vaccines for diseases that cause meningitis (a serious infection around the brain that can be life threatening), pneumonia (a lung infection), whooping cough, polio, chickenpox, hepatitis (both A and B), measles, mumps, and German measles.
Some parents hesitate to give their children vaccines because they are afraid that the vaccination will give their child the disease or that their child may have an adverse reaction. Other parents believe that their children are unlikely to get the disease given that the incidence of many of these diseases has decreased dramatically. Nevertheless, the reason for the decline is because children have been appropriately immunized, so it’s important parents continue to get their children vaccinated. For instance, while it is true that polio is rare, the reason that is the case is because most people have been immunized against it. If people were to stop receiving the polio vaccine, we could see a resurgence of its incidence.
I encourage parents to be honest with their children about what a doctor’s visit will be like. Please don’t tell your child that a shot will not hurt. Instead, what I suggest is that parents liken the experience to something known to the child. Tell your kids it will be similar to a “bee sting” or a “pinch” and will be over before they know it. Be honest.
Remember, it is extremely important that parents always bring their child’s immunization record to their doctor visits. That way the physician can make sure the child is up to date. Schools also require written documentation that your child has received his or her immunizations.
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