Immunization Rates in America
Vaccines are the success story of modern medicine. Routine childhood immunizations are crucial to both individual patient health and for public health. Due to philosophical and religious exemptions and lack of access to care, immunization rates vary across the country. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics notes that some communities have already experienced preventable disease outbreaks. Children who are too young to be vaccinated and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are at higher risk when immunization rates are low. As a result, increasing immunization rates is a crucial priority for adolescent health and development. (AAP)
The Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR)
We are fortunate in our state to be served by the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR), a robust system of reporting vaccination data for each patient. WIR, released statewide in 2000, is a confidential, secure online database administered by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Immunization Program. Responding to the advent of multiple electronic medical records in use by large healthcare systems, interfaces are readily available to communicate data back and forth on a consistent basis to maintain the integrity and timely recording of information.
WIAAP’s WIR position statement expands on our commitment to work with public health officials to provide the education and outreach necessary to keep our patients fully immunized, according to the Bright Futures periodicity schedule.
Adolescent Immunizations
Adolescents aged 7 to 18 years require additional vaccinations because protection from childhood vaccines can wear off over time and leave them more susceptible to infection. HPV aside, adolescent immunizations are often challenging to keep on schedule owing to the decrease in well visit appointments kept as patients grow older. Checkups for sports physicals are an excellent opportunity to “catch up” on a teen’s vaccination schedule if necessary.
Vaccine-preventable diseases include:
Tetanus
Diptheria
Pertussis (whooping cough)
Influenza
Measles
Mumps
Rubella
Hepatitis B
HPV
Varicella
Meningitis
Pneumococcus
Hepatitis A
Polio
Childhood Vaccinations
Kids love to be with other kids, laughing and learning. As a parent, you never know which viruses may ride home with them.
Vaccines teach your child’s immune system how to recognize and resist the most dangerous germs. Thanks to these scientific breakthroughs, serious diseases that once made thousands of kids sick every year have become more and more rare. If you have questions about vaccines, your pediatrician is there to answer them.
What to Know About Your Baby’s Immune System
Vaccine Schedule – Why So Many?
Children grow through predictable ages and stages — from learning to talk and walk, to learning to make friends. Your child’s immune system has stages, too and, because of that, vaccine timing matters. Vaccines work best when your child’s body is ready to respond best.
Building immunity is like learning to read. Newborn vaccines are the beginner books that teach your baby’s immune system to recognize and resist serious diseases. Just as a child grows from board books, to Dr. Seuss, to “Captain Underpants,” their immune system grows and gets stronger with each vaccine.
Vaccine Safety
Our communities in Wisconsin have benefited from vaccines for more than 60 years. They’ve been scientifically designed to teach the immune system to recognize and resist serious diseases and are carefully tested and monitored over time.
As parents, you want to keep your kids healthy. Medical researchers care about children, too, so they carefully test and monitor the ingredients in vaccines. Each ingredient in a vaccine has a specific function, making the vaccine work better with your child’s immune system.
Vaccine Safety: Examine the Evidence
Vaccine Ingredients: Frequently Asked Questions
How Vaccines are Developed, Safety Tested and Approved: Step by Step
Fact checked: Vaccines: Safe and Effective, No Link to Autism
Are Vaccines Safe for Children? The Truth About Risks & Benefits
Community Immunity
Because routine childhood immunizations are widely available in the U.S., most kids today will never get whooping cough, tetanus, polio or meningitis. When vaccination is widespread, contagious diseases have a hard time spreading.
That’s called community immunity, and it protects our family, friends and neighbors. It keeps preventable diseases at bay, keeps our children focused on growing and learning, and sets young people up for lifelong health and well-being.
Influenza
A common misperception about the flu is that healthy children are not at risk of serious complications. According to one CDC study published in the journal Pediatrics, half of the flu-related deaths in children were in good health prior to contracting the illness between 2010 and 2016. Just last flu season (2017-2018), more children died from influenza than ever before – a shocking 172 lives were lost.
These statistics serve as a startling reminder that all children over the age of six months should be vaccinated annually. Children younger than five years (and especially those under age 2), and any children with long-term chronic health problem are particularly at risk. Those conditions may include heart disease, asthma or other lung disorders and neurologic or neurodevelopmental disorders.
The flu shot not only may keep your child from getting sick with the flu, it also protects people around them (like grandparents, babies and those more vulnerable to infection).
HPV Statistics
79 million
people have been infected with HPV in the US, by approximation.
14 million
new HPV infections occur every year.
80%
of sexually active people will contract HPV over their lifetime.
27,000 people
in the United States get cancer caused by HPV each year.
Improving HPV Immunization Rates
You are the key to cancer prevention
Make a strong recommendation for adolescent vaccines, including HPV, to boys and girls ages 11-12. Every visit on or after the 9th birthday is an opportunity to recommend the vaccine.
Minimal Side Effects to Prevent Cancer
Since the vaccine was licensed, very few patients reported side effects – and most of those were “non-serious” symptoms such as headache, nausea, and dizziness. Being infected with HPV can lead to cervical cancer, genital cancer, anogenital cancer, throat cancer and genital warts.
Longer Lasting Immunity for 11-12-Year-Olds
A higher level of the protective antibody is generated in the body of 11-12-year-olds after immunization, compared with older adolescents and young adults. This may result in longer-lasting immunity.