It's Every Kid Healthy Week

The last week of April is a celebration of sorts when it comes to child health.  Every Kid Healthy™ Week is a nationally recognized event that celebrates school health and wellness achievements and runs from April 22-26 this year.   Fittingly, this recognition also falls during the time in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) celebrates World Immunization Week¹, which is dedicated to promoting the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease across the world.  The CDC is highlighting this effort from April 24-30 this year.

The importance of vaccination

Why is this tie in so important? Although the CDC’s World Immunization Week does not focus only on vaccinations for children, given the latest headlines, the timing is right.  Recent reports from the CDC are showing that from January 1 through April 11 of 2019, measles cases have already topped 555² confirmed individual cases in 20 states.  Four of these states have confirmed outbreaks (the official definition of an outbreak is three or more cases). This is the second-greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was eliminated in 2000. Most of these cases are contracted from infected   travelers to the USA with subsequent spread to pockets of unvaccinated children.  Promoting safe and effective vaccination across the world can benefit our children here at home. But we must do our part here in the USA as well.   Vaccine refusal is a difficult issue that many providers-especially those delivering primary care to children-will often face. Social media has allowed the antivaccination movement to reach many people across many different platforms with misinformation regarding the safety of vaccines³.  Although it may take time to convince a reluctant parent or guardian to accept a vaccine for their child, it is time worth spending to protect a child from a preventable illness that could have serious consequences for themselves or others.  If a provider is unable to convince a parent to accept a vaccine, they should consider documenting the refusal and  asking the parent to sign an informed refusal form as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.    A link to this  form and additional resources can be found here at the American Academy of Pediatrics website⁴.

But vaccines are not just for children-adults should review their vaccine status with their primary care providers as well to ensure they are receiving the most up to date recommended vaccines for their age.  Additionally, whenever a patient is  planning travel outside of the USA, check in with the CDC Travelers’ Health site⁵ as to whether there are any additional vaccines recommended based on their travel itinerary as well as for resources for helpful advice on how they can  stay healthy while visiting other countries. 

Every Kid Health Week resources

Every Kid Healthy Week™ events may be happening in your community.  These events should promote and reinforce healthy eating, nutrition education, physical activity and physical education.  So what can providers do?  Be willing to be involved!  

If there isn’t an event planned near you, perhaps you or your staff could assist a local school in the planning and execution of a successful event.  There are tool kits and resources available to help you get organized.  Examples of events that could be hosted are family fitness nights, health and wellness fairs or even a community 5K walk/run.   For more information, visit Every Kid Health Week’s website at http://www.everykidhealthyweek.org/  for planning ideas, resources and toolkit information.

References:

¹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Immunization week

https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/wiw/index.html

²Cases as of April 11, 2019. Case count is preliminary and subject to change

https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

³The overlooked dangers of anti-vaccination groups' social media presence

Evrony A, Caplan A. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2017 Jun 3;13(6):1-2.

⁴American Academy of Pediatrics:  Documenting Parental Refusal to Have Their Children Vaccinated. https://www.aap.org/en-us/documents/immunization_refusaltovaccinate.pdf

Accessed April 18, 2019

⁵Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Travelers’ Health https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel