Families are focused on staying healthy during the pandemic, which is the right thing to do.
Health experts have an important reminder for parents - COVID-19 prevention shouldn't mean skipping your child's vaccines.
Vaccines help protect children of all ages from serious diseases. Those include diseases like whooping cough, measles and chicken pox. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children continue to stay on schedule with their vaccines, most of which will occur by age 2.
Despite this recommendation, fewer children have been getting their vaccines during the coronavirus crisis.
Schedule your child's vaccines
Doctors' offices are taking steps to keep their patients safe during checkups and vaccine visits.
If you think you may have fallen behind on your child's vaccines, talk to their doctor. They can fill you in on vaccine recommendations for your child.
Here are some vaccines children of different ages may need:
Infants and toddlers (birth-age 2)
DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis)
MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
Chickenpox
Pneumococcus
Hepatitis A and B
Haemophilus Influenza B
Rotavirus
Polio
Preschoolers and school-aged kids (ages 3-10)
DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis)
MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
Chickenpox
Polio
Preteens and teens (ages 11-18)
HPV
Meningococcus
Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis)
Pauline Burrell, MD, pediatrician, is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. She attended medical school at the University of Missouri Kansas City and completed her residency at Arkansas Children's Hospital. She now practices pediatric medicine, and is accepting new patients at Capital Region Physicians Pediatrics, located at 1125 Madison St. in the Physician's Office Building.