News Moms Need

April 20-27 is National Infant Immunization Week, so today we’re here to remind you of the importance of getting your little one all the vaccines she needs.

I always hated watching my kids get vaccinations (also called immunizations) and winced when they weren’t looking. If you’re a parent, it may actually seem more painful for you than for them! They may be uncomfortable for a minute, but these important shots help protect them from some serious childhood diseases like polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps and the flu. 

All children should be vaccinated for their own health and so they don’t spread infections or diseases to others. It’s important to keep a record of what your little ones have received so you know what’s coming up next. All childhood vaccines are given in two or more doses. Your baby needs more than one dose because each one builds up her immunity. Immunity is her body’s protection from disease. A second or third dose is needed to fully protect her. These doses work best if they’re spread out over time.

In the first 2 years of life, your baby gets several vaccines to protect her. This handy schedule shows each vaccine your baby gets up to 6 years of age. It also shows how many doses she gets of each vaccine and when she needs to get them. Your baby should get vaccinations and boosters regularly, all the way through age 18.

Often health care providers will hand out a booklet or form to parents to help them keep a record of their child’s vaccinations. Ask your child’s doc if he has one for you to use.

Some infections can harm you and your baby during pregnancy. This is why vaccinations are so important. They help protect your body from infection, and you pass this protection to your baby during pregnancy. This helps keep your baby safe during the first few months of life until he gets his own vaccinations. 

Vaccinations also protect you from getting a serious disease that could affect future pregnancies. You probably got vaccinations as a child, but they don’t all protect you for your whole life. Over time, some childhood vaccinations stop working, so you may need what’s called a booster shot as an adult. Plus, there may be new vaccines that weren’t available when you were young, like the flu vaccine, recommended each year, or the Tdap vaccine that is recommended during each pregnancy. Talk to your health care provider to make sure all your vaccinations are up to date.

Not all vaccinations are safe to get during pregnancy. Here’s a link to a chart to help you know when you can get certain vaccinations if you need them. It includes the latest recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from the CDC. Talk to your health care provider about vaccinations you need before, during or after pregnancy.

In general, the flu is worse than the common cold. Symptoms such as fever, body aches, tiredness, and cough are more common and intense with the flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose and a sore throat. Your health care provider can give you a test within the first few days of your illness to tell you if you have the flu or something else.

Children, pregnant women, the elderly and immune-compromised are at highest risk for severe, even life-threatening reactions. You’ve probably seen the numbers in the news. To date, the CDC has received reports of 18 deaths of children this season. Influenza activity continues to spread in the U.S. and most of the country is now experiencing high levels of influenza-like illness (ILI), according to CDC’s latest FluView  report. The CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination for people who have not yet been vaccinated this season and antiviral treatment as early as possible for people who get sick and are at high risk of flu complications.

The influenza vaccine is safe at any time during pregnancy. Almost all women who are or will be pregnant during flu season can get the shot. Getting the flu shot can help protect you from getting influenza and spreading it to others. Getting a flu shot during pregnancy is good for your baby, too. Babies born to women who get the vaccine during pregnancy are less likely to get sick with influenza. As newborns, they are not able to get the vaccine until the age of six months, all the more reason to have those around them vaccinated.

“While influenza vaccination offers the best protection we have against influenza, it’s still possible that some people may become ill despite being vaccinated,” says Dr. Joe Bresee of the CDC. “Health care providers and the public should remember that influenza antiviral medications are a second line of defense against influenza.”

Antiviral treatment (sold commercially as “Tamiflu®” and “Relenza®”) started as early as possible after becoming ill, is recommended for any patients with confirmed or suspected influenza who are hospitalized, seriously ill, or ill and at high risk of serious influenza-related complications. Treatment should begin as soon as influenza is suspected, regardless of vaccination status or rapid test results and should not be delayed for confirmatory testing.

Seek medical attention immediately if you experience any of the following:
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Purple or blue discoloration of the lips
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Seizures
• Flu-like symptoms that improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Whether you’re young or old, help give the gift of good health by getting vaccinated against pertussis. New parents should ask grandparents eager to hold the new baby in the family to add vaccines to their holiday shopping list.

A nationwide surge in whooping cough infections has major health organizations urging people to step up and keep up with their vaccines. Did you know that adults are the most common source of pertussis infection in infants? As a grandparent, I’m paying attention to the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC regarding the pertussis vaccine.

A recent pertussis study immunizing a mother in the last trimester of pregnancy showed that the immunization did not lower the rate of pertussis in infants younger than 6 months.  Experts are recommending “cocooning,” a strategy that protects infants who are too young to be immunized, by having parents, brothers and sisters, and caretakers vaccinated against this disease. This includes grandparents, too.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have expanded an earlier recommendation that seniors be vaccinated against whooping cough (pertussis).  They now recommend that all adults 65 and older, not just those caring for infants, be immunized. If you don’t think you’re going to be around little ones this holiday, think again. You may attend a holiday party where there are lots of tots. It’s important to remember that pertussis isn’t picky. If your booster isn’t up to date, you can get pertussis, too. Let’s not share this disease any more.

So if you’re asked what you want for a holiday gift this year, ask that everyone get their pertussis vaccination.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expanding an earlier recommendation that seniors be vaccinated against whooping cough (pertussis).  They now recommend that all adults 65 and older be immunized, not just those who are caring for babies.

Researchers believe whooping cough occurs more frequently in older adults than had been previously observed. That may help explain outbreaks of pertussis in California and other states in the past few years.  Also, research has shown that immunity to the bacteria that cause whooping cough can wear off over time, which is why adults need to get booster shots.

The T-DAP vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. It’s routinely given to children starting at 2 months. But three shots, usually done by 6 months, are needed to be sure a child’s immune system can fight off the bacteria that cause pertussis.

To protect the youngest and most vulnerable children, those who haven’t been fully vaccinated, it’s important that relatives and other people in the community be vaccinated to prevent spread of whooping cough.

As a grandparent, I’m paying attention to the new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding the pertussis vaccine. New parents should tell grandparents eager to hold the new baby in the family this holiday season to add vaccines to their shopping list.

The recommendation for expanded vaccinations for whooping cough — even for those over 65 — is new from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It comes after a nationwide surge in whooping cough infections during 2010 and a rise in current cases.

A recent pertussis study immunizing a mother in the last trimester of pregnancy showed that the immunization did not lower the rate of pertussis in infants younger than 6 months.  Experts are recommending “cocooning,” a strategy that protects infants who are too young to be immunized, by having parents, brothers and sisters, and caretakers vaccinated against this disease. If grandparents are going to visit and be around the baby, they should receive their vaccination, too. The AAP policy statement says, “the age for recommendation for Tdap is extended to those aged 65 years and older who have or are likely to have contact with an infant younger than 12 months (eg, health care personnel, grandparents, and other caregivers).”

So if you’re asked what you want for a holiday gift, ask that everyone get their pertussis vaccination.

Did you know that pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized from complications of the flu than non-pregnant women of the same age?

Pregnancy increases the risk of complications of flu, such as bacterial pneumonia and dehydration, which can be serious and even fatal. Pregnancy also can change a woman’s immune system, as well as affect her heart and lungs. Getting vaccinated at any time during pregnancy is the best way pregnant women can protect themselves and their babies from the flu.

Recent research published in PLoS Medicine earlier this year also found that getting a flu shot during pregnancy may offer some protection from having a premature or low birth weight baby. The study looked at births in Georgia from 2004 to 2006 and found that pregnant women who received the flu vaccine and who gave birth during the October through May flu season were 40 percent less likely to have a baby born too soon.

The flu vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective. As an added bonus, during pregnancy, mothers pass on their immunity, protecting babies in those early months of life. Parents of children younger than 6 months should be vaccinated against influenza because these children cannot receive the preventive vaccine. Those who live with pregnant women or young children, or are in close contact with them, should be immunized. If you have a child who is 6 months or older, she should get a seasonal flu vaccine every year. The flu vaccine is safe for most children.

Make it a family affair. There is plenty to go around, so schedule your flu shots today.

Are your older kids getting ready to go to school? Are you shopping for their clothes and book bags? Don’t forget their vaccinations, too.

Immunizations are responsible for eliminating polio and smallpox in the United States, and they have seriously reduced the number of deaths from chickenpox. However, infectious diseases like viral hepatitis, influenza, and tuberculosis (TB) remain a major cause of illness, disability, and death.

Despite progress, approximately 42,000 adults and 300 children in the United States die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the US Dept. of Health & Human Services. Communities with pockets of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated populations are at increased risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. In 2008, measles that were brought in from other countries resulted in 140 reported cases here — nearly a 3-fold increase over the previous year. The appearance of new or replacement strains of vaccine-preventable disease can result in a major increase in serious illnesses and death.

Respiratory infectious diseases, like the flu and pneumonia, continue to be leading causes of pediatric hospitalization and outpatient visits in the United States. On average, the flu leads to more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths each year. The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic caused an estimated 270,000 hospitalizations and 12,270 deaths in less than a year.

A major goal of Healthy People 2020 is to protect Americans against infectious diseases by increasing immunization in communities nationwide. This can only be achieved if we all pay attention and keep up with our vaccinations throughout our lives. So, while you’re picking up your child’s papers, pencils and snow parkas, be sure to remember to get his vaccinations, too. And don’t forget to bring along his brothers and sisters!

Chickenpox, or varicella, is a childhood illness that can pose risks to the fetus if a mother contracts it during pregnancy, especially during her first 20 weeks. Congenital varicella syndrome, though rare, can include defects of muscle and bone, malformed or paralyzed limbs, a smaller-than-normal head, blindness, seizures, intellectual disability. Varicella has lead to death in some children. 

Varicella has been preventable by vaccination in the United States since 1995. More than 90 percent of pregnant women are immune to chickenpox because they either had chickenpox before pregnancy or were vaccinated as children. Women who are immune to chickenpox cannot become infected and do not need to be concerned about it during pregnancy.  However, many women do not know whether they had chickenpox in the past or have misplaced their immunization records. Pregnant women should discuss this illness with their health care provider during their first prenatal visit.

Before the vaccine was approved in 1995, about 150 people a year died from the disease and 11,000 were hospitalized, according to Jane Seward of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A report from the CDC in the July 25th edition of Pediatrics says that chickenpox is close to being eliminated all together. In studying just mortality rates, “in the last 6 years analyzed, a total of 3 deaths per age range were reported, compared with an annual average of 13 and 16 deaths, respectively, during the prevaccine years.”

An impressive 88% decline in varicella deaths in the first 12 years can be directly attributed to successful implementation of the 1-dose vaccination program. “With the current 2-dose program (in effect since in 2006), there is potential that these most severe outcomes of a vaccine-preventable disease could be eliminated.” Eliminated. No more. Gone. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Pertussis, whooping cough, is on the rise. It can cause serious illness in infants, children and adults. The disease starts like the common cold, with runny nose or congestion, sneezing, and maybe mild cough or fever. But after 1–2 weeks, severe coughing can begin.

Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until there is no more air in the lungs and you’re forced to inhale with a loud “whooping” sound. In infants, the cough can be slight or not even there. But Pertussis is most severe for little ones. More than half of babies under the age of one year who get the disease must be hospitalized. About 1 in 5 infants with pertussis get pneumonia, and about 1 in 100 will have convulsions. In rare cases (1 in 100), pertussis can be deadly, especially in infants.

People with pertussis usually spread the disease by coughing or sneezing while they’re around others, who then breathe in the pertussis bacteria. Many infants who get pertussis are infected by parents, older brothers and sisters, or other caregivers who might not even know they have the disease. (My 34 year old daughter actually had it last November!) Vaccination wears off, so it’s not safe to assume that the vaccine you received when you were young will protect you today.

The Sounds of Pertussis Campaign launched Race to Blanket America, an effort to blanket the country with pertussis education and encourage adults to get vaccinated against pertussis. The centerpiece of the Race to Blanket America is the Sounds of Pertussis Protection Quilt, which symbolizes how those closest to babies can help create a “cocoon” — a blanket of protection — around the tiniest members of their family by getting an adult and adolescent tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) booster vaccination. Learn more and talk with your provider about getting your booster.