National Infant Immunization Week 2017!
It’s national infant immunization week!As many of you know it’s so important for newborns to be protected from pertussis (whooping cough) and YOU are able to get vaccinated during pregnancy to protect your newborn from pertussis in the first few months of life. Babies with whooping cough can be in the ICU within just hours after showing signs of an upper respiratory infection.
I live in a very touristy area and about six months ago, along with a large flock of tourists came the spread of whooping cough through our area. There were at least 60 deaths of children under four months in our state in just a very short period of time.
Babies are immunized with DTaP at 2 months and 4 months but these children were either not immunized or caught the disease before they were able to be vaccinated.
Whooping cough is often a silent disease in adults so it’s easily transmitted and those adults that tend to spread the disease often do so because they aren’t up to date on their Tdap vaccinations. Adults need a pertussis boost every 3-4 years. Every human adult that has contact with a baby needs to be vaccinated.
Vaccinating your infant at 2 months is so important!
When you walk into the grocery store with your baby he is exposed to about 100,000 germs by aisle one IMMEDIATELY. Did he touch the cart? YES. Did he put his fingers in his mouth? You bet he did.
When you vaccinate your child you are putting 4-7 “germs” into the muscle that take days to get into the system.Our body’s immune system is amazing. It can recognize and fight off germs very well, several at a time.
You buckle your child in his carseat when you get in the car. You hopefully will never have an accident but he’s protected, right? Get your child vaccinated before he walks out into the world. He may never get sick, but would you risk it?
