Pediatric Pointers

Pandemic shows the importance of vaccinations

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Why vaccinations? And why talk about them now during this pandemic in which there is no vaccination? Well, that is exactly why. This pandemic has shined the brightest light possible on the importance of vaccination. The extreme measures that we are having to live through at the moment show us what a world without vaccines looks like. The fear this has invoked on us and our families is much like the fear previous generations without vaccinations faced, the fear of the unknown, of what’s next, of long term consequences or even death with little or no control over the outcomes. They still had much to learn about the many illnesses that threatened their children such as polio, pertussis or measles, just to name a few. And now, because critical vaccinations have since been developed and well utilized, today’s parents have never been faced with such fear and uncertainty from unknown illnesses that can have devastating consequences on their loved ones. Until now. And it is scary! Many of the illnesses we vaccinate against are spread much the same way and just as easily as the coronavirus and that is why vaccinating is crucial.

Having to stay away from the people we love to keep them safe, is not a permanent solution. We are human beings we are social creatures that need one another to survive. In the short term, this strategy is critical but it cannot continue forever. The only way we get back to normal is to develop a vaccine to provide us with lasting immunity and protect us and those we love. We can develop a vaccine to COVID-19 but it won’t be fast, cheap or easy.

We at Joshi Pediatrics believe firmly that all parents wish to do the best for their children and protect them from harm, and that is why it is critical at this time to remember that we need to keep our kids vaccinated for the diseases we can prevent. It is more important now than ever that we prevent disease whenever we can. The World Health Organization has said that the “disruption of immunization services, even for brief periods, will result in increased numbers of susceptible individuals and raise the likelihood of outbreak-prone vaccine preventable diseases such as measles.” We absolutely cannot afford this kind of a preventable crisis.

We have taken extraordinary measures to keep patients safe in our office. We feel absolutely confident in following the recommendations that the CDC has put in place. We know that we can keep people healthy by keeping them vaccinated against disease. If you have an appointment for your child’s routine vaccines with Joshi Pediatrics rest assured that you should keep it. If you are still questioning the importance and power of vaccines to keep you safe just look around at all the masked faces.

 

Anita Joshi is a board certified pediatrician and mother of two has been practicing in Crawfordsville since 1998. Crawfordsville Pediatric Center is located at 1901 Lafayette Ave. Suite 100, Crawfordsville. She can be reached at 765-361-3086.


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