(BPT) - Pop quiz: Do you know which childhood diseases the DTaP vaccine helps prevent?(Answer: Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis — also called whooping cough).If you didn’t know the …
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(BPT) - Pop quiz: Do you know which childhood diseases the DTaP vaccine helps prevent?
(Answer: Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis — also called whooping cough).
If you didn’t know the answer, you’re not alone! Recommended childhood vaccines like DTaP have been so successful in preventing serious illness and even death from once common diseases that many of us are unfamiliar with their names or symptoms.
Ensuring your child is up to date with their recommended vaccinations helps keep it that way. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the latest vaccination coverage, or the percentage of people who are vaccinated with specific vaccines, among kindergarten children is 93%. This is lower than pre-pandemic coverage, which hovered around 95% for nearly a decade. This is significant because it means that there are nearly 250,000 kindergartners who may not be completely protected against serious diseases like measles.
Help make sure that your child is protected from serious diseases like measles and chickenpox, which can spread easily in school settings. Talk to your child’s healthcare provider about keeping your child up to date with recommended vaccines.
Want to learn more? Consult CDC’s easy-to-read vaccination schedule to see if your child is protected. And check out the handy “cheat sheet” below to learn more about some once-common childhood diseases that recommended vaccinations now help protect your child from:
Diphtheria
Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
Polio
Varicella (Chickenpox)
Measles
Thanks to the protection given by recommended vaccines, it makes sense that there is less awareness about these once common childhood diseases. Let's keep it that way. Before your child goes back to school, make sure they are up to date with recommend vaccines. Talk to your child’s healthcare provider about recommended childhood vaccines. Visit CDC’s webpage to learn more.