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Primary Care for Children
Find a Primary Care LocationYou can help protect your child from serious diseases by following an easy vaccination schedule. Learn more about the importance of child immunization.
Jeffery Mudd, MD, Pediatrics:
Childhood immunizations are important because your child will be protected against potentially deadly diseases. Also, in the long run, it protects vulnerable members of the community because we see fewer cases of these diseases. Unfortunately, since the COVID-19 outbreak has happened we have seen children not receive their immunizations on time. Lots of parents are still scared to come out into the community despite safeguards taken at the hospital to protect the children. So, this has led to some children, especially smaller ones, falling behind on their immunization schedule.
Courtney Schwinn, Parent, Boaz, Kentucky:
As a mother and a nurse, I think the benefit outweighs the risk. The hospital is doing all the precautions and helping to prevent the spread of COVID, so it’s important for parents to follow up with the vaccines.
Dr. Mudd:
The worries are that if a child falls behind on their immunizations, these diseases we can protect and prevent will start reappearing. I’m often asked how vaccines are important to children. One of my favorite ways to answer is that we have a poster in our office listing all the diseases that children should be vaccinated for, either completing their entire vaccination series or at least started by the time they are 2 years old. On this poster, it lists some of the side effects of these illnesses. If a child catches the illness, in 13 of 14, one of the side effects is death. There are illnesses that we prevent with vaccinations that I have never seen. Hopefully, some of these illnesses that I see today, my grandchildren will never have and will never be exposed to them.