Pediatrician Warning: Don’t Delay Vaccines Due to COVID-19

Postponing your child’s shots seems like a harmless solution to avoiding contact with COVID-19, but The World Health Organization warns that doing so could have more severe consequences than the pandemic itself. Since March 2020, there has been a global decline in routine immunizations for children, largely due to parents’ hesitance about visiting a doctor’s office during the pandemic.

As parents around the country cancel well-child checkups to avoid COVID-19 exposure, public health experts fear they are inadvertently sowing the seeds of another health crisis. The rate at which immunizations are declining puts millions of children at risk for measles, whooping cough, and other life-threatening illnesses.

“The last thing we want as the collateral damage of COVID-19 are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, which we will almost certainly see if there continues to be a drop in vaccine uptake,” says Dr. Sean T. O’Leary, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.

How We’re Keeping Your Children Safe

• There’s a mask mandate at all Ogden Clinic facilities.
• We’ve placed limits on how many guests may accompany a patient.
• We’ve increased our cleaning and sanitation schedules.
• We’re performing temperature checks at the door, and
• All COVID-19 testing takes place in an isolated area. Symptomatic patients may not enter the clinic.

Read our full safety measures here.

Is your child due for vaccines? Download The CDC’s Immunization Chart.

Need to schedule a visit with your child’s pediatrician or family practice provider? Book an appointment online.