Michigan Ranks 43rd In Country In Keeping Kids Up To Date With Immunizations
DETROIT (WWJ) - Just weeks away from the beginning of a new school year -- filled with all of the annual to-do list items for your children to be school-ready.
A reminder that immunizations should be at the top of your child's back to school list - and that coincides with August being national immunization awareness month.
Is your child up-to date on all recommended immunizations?
Many kids in the state of Michigan are not up-to-date with immunizations.
Dr. Eden Wells with the the Michigan Department of Health says just a little more than half of all children in the state are fully vaccinated.
"The youngest, the toddlers through five years old, are not doing well," says Dr. Wells. "Michigan ranks 43rd out of all the states."
According to the website IVaccinate.org only 54 percent of Michigan toddlers are up to date on their vaccinations. This makes it easier for serious vaccine-preventable diseases to spread.
In Michigan there's been a resurgence of many vaccine-preventable diseases such as chicken pox and mumps.So why are some parents opting out of vaccinating their kids?
One reason...misinformation.
Dr. Teresa Holtrop is with the Michigan chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"I understand the fear that people often times have - not enough of our parents have seen a lot of these diseases and therefore just don't have the sense that 'oh, this is something important - that I should try to protect my child against,'" Holtrop says.
Vaccines go through lengthy and intense safety testing prior to being approved notes Ivaccinate.org, by the time a vaccine is offered to the public, it has been studied for at least 15 to 20 years in tens of thousands of study participants, by thousands of scientists, statisticians and health care providers.
Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows which states have the best track records for getting children vaccinated for some of the most common preventable childhood diseases:
• Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR vaccine)
• Diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough also called pertussis (DTaP vaccine)
• Chickenpox (varicella vaccine)
Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Rhode Island are in the top 10 states with the highest vaccination rates for all three.
A CBS News story notes that an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented across the globe if more people were immunized, says the World Health Organization.
To learn more about vaccinations check here.
