Navigating Childhood Vaccines

You’ve baby-proofed the house and ensured the car seat is well anchored. Now it’s time to put some health protections in place for the newest addition to your family in the form of vaccinations.

Dealing with a newborn can be a dizzying and exhausting time and it’s all you can do to keep up with just basic things like feeding. So, the team at Neighborhood Pediatrics, led by board-certified pediatricians Dr. Sharon Lucas and Dr. Rachel McConnell, pulled together a few tips for navigating your child’s vaccinations.

Why vaccination is important

It’s no exaggeration to say that vaccines have been one of the biggest achievements in public health and have likely saved an untold number of lives.

Currently, we are able to protect against 21 potentially dangerous, and even life-threatening, diseases. On this list are diseases that you might not even have heard of, such as smallpox and polio, as well as diseases that have certainly faded from our collective awareness, like measles.

Of the list, only one disease has been fully eradicated — smallpox — and other diseases that were almost eradicated have made small comebacks. For example, in 2000, measles was declared eliminated, but 1,200 cases of the disease were reported in the United States in 2019.

So, if you want to protect your child against common and uncommon diseases, vaccination is the best and most effective path forward.

Figuring out your child’s vaccination schedule

We often hear from new mothers about how confusing the vaccination schedule appears to be and we want you to know that it’s our job to sort through it and make sure we cover everything. Your job is to get your child to see us.

We know that new parents have enough on their plate, so let us do our part by ensuring that your child has all the necessary protections in place as they grow and develop. Of course, we review this with you during each well-child visit so that you understand everything we’re doing.

To paint a broad picture, vaccinations start at the one-month mark and we do the bulk of the immunization work by the time they reach 18 months. At that point, kids switch to the same annual vaccines adults get, such as flu and COVID-19. The exception is the human papillomavirus vaccine, which we administer starting at age 9.

It may sound like a lot, but we want to make two points:

1. Many vaccines are combination vaccines
2. We keep track of the schedule

So, you can rest easy that we’ve got the vaccination piece of your child’s wellness puzzle covered, which allows you to focus on enjoying these early years.

As a note, if time gets away from you and you’re late on vaccines, please visit us so that we can get your child caught up.

For expert vaccination care for your younger family members, including newborns, call us at our Shenandoah, Texas, office at 832-843-2049, or use the online booking feature to schedule an appointment today.