Immunization

Polio Workers at the frontline by Tamara Abu Sham Jalalabad , Eastern Afghanistan: House-to-house polio immunization campaigns have been halted since the COVID-19 outbreak reached Afghanistan in late February, but the work of thousands of polio programme workers continues. Amidst the pandemic, workers are supporting families to ensure that children under one year receive childhood immunizations at health facilities, protecting them against numerous life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases. The polio programme’s support of routine immunization in Afghanistan has made important gains, especially in eastern Afghanistan, in the areas bordering Pakistan. Polio social mobilisers from the UNICEF-run Immunization Communication Network (ICN), support mother and child health referral services, and help families keep track of their children’s health records. As the mobilisers are from the community, they know each family in their neighborhood quite well, and can trace each child’s plann...

ISTANBUL A pediatrician in Turkey has urged families not to delay their children's vaccinations as the novel coronavirus continues to spread among the young and old. Dr. Ufuk Ozkaya told Anadolu Agency that immunization shots protected the health of children, as well as the wellbeing of society as a whole. "Through the vaccine, some disease-causing microorganisms or proteins are injected into the body and we become immune to that microbe without infecting others," said Ozkaya. Underscoring the necessity of protecting children from infections during a pandemic, Ozkaya said parents must follow normal vaccination schedules. Ozkaya noted that infectious diseases were "the main causes of diseases and deaths in children all over the world. It is possible to protect them against a large part of these infections via vaccinations." He added that many families tended to delay their children's shots during the outbreak, calling on parents to act immediately to c...

What does the future hold for the cruise industry?Photo by Stephanie Klepacki on Unsplash. Have you ever taken a cruise?  According to that industry, something like 28 million people worldwide took to the high seas last year.  But that still leave 80 percent of Americans who have never cruised, enjoying the midnight buffets, spas and casinos at sea. Obviously, cruising has lost its allure since the megaships became epicenters of COVID-19 outbreaks, trapping passengers in their cabins for days as some ships searched for a port that would let them dock with their contagious human cargo. Even before the current pandemic cruise ships were notorious hotspots for simpler bugs like the norovirus which caused “ acute gastrointestinal illness. ”  It’s hard to share a confined space like a ship without touching surfaces that harbor the virus. Years ago when we sailed on the Norwegian Cruise Line, we practically bathed in hand sanitizer.  You couldn’t board without a h...

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — Health care providers across Pierce County have reported 10 cases of hepatitis A so far this year. That may not sound like an overwhelming case load especially in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but it is five times the number of cases the county saw in all of 2020, and eight of the cases were diagnosed in just the last five weeks. Now the Tacoma - Pierce County Health Department is asking residents and health care providers to be aware of the increased risk, how hep A is transmitted and to contact authorities immediately if they're concerned they have a case. Hepatitis A spreads through infected feces and has an incubation period of two to six weeks. Typically, patients get sick between three and four weeks after their first exposure. Hepatitis A symptoms include: Jaundice Vomiting Anorexia Elevated liver function The health department says homeless residents or people living with substance use disorders are most at risk for hepatitis A. Four ...

stock photo IDAHO FALLS — For children in need of immunizations, Eastern Idaho Public Health is providing a way to help. Eastern Idaho Public Health canceled its annual free childhood immunization clinic in April due to COVID-19. They’ve since rescheduled and will be holding a free immunization clinic in June. It’s open to all children ages 18 years and younger who are in need of immunizations. “During the last few months, we know that it’s been a concern for parents to adequately access all the care that they may have wanted, including vaccines,” Community Health Division Administrator James Corbett told EastIdahoNews.com. “For that reason, as well as this is an annual event that Eastern Idaho Public Health does for our community, we want to give parent’s the opportunity to access vaccines that are proven to help reduce vaccine-preventable diseases.” Childhood vaccinations plummeted in mid-March after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control ...

stock photo IDAHO FALLS — For children in need of immunizations, Eastern Idaho Public Health is providing a way to help. Eastern Idaho Public Health canceled its annual free childhood immunization clinic in April due to COVID-19. They’ve since rescheduled and will be holding a free immunization clinic in June. It’s open to all children ages 18 years and younger who are in need of immunizations. “During the last few months, we know that it’s been a concern for parents to adequately access all the care that they may have wanted, including vaccines,” Community Health Division Administrator James Corbett told EastIdahoNews.com. “For that reason, as well as this is an annual event that Eastern Idaho Public Health does for our community, we want to give parent’s the opportunity to access vaccines that are proven to help reduce vaccine-preventable diseases.” Childhood vaccinations plummeted in mid-March after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control ...

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE President Trump’s comparison of the vaccine development program with nuclear weapons sets a dangerous template that could hurt the world, including the U.S. Standing in the White House Rose Garden last Friday, President Donald Trump compared America’s “warp speed” effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine to the country’s mission to build an atomic bomb 80 years ago. “A massive scientific, industrial and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project ,” is how Trump described the initiative. Trump is given to hyperbole, and experts say it’s almost impossible that a vaccine will be ready for use this year, as he has claimed. But Trump’s comparison was no exaggeration. At a time the world is dealing with its biggest public health crisis in decades, governments of major nations — from the United States and China to the United Kingdom and France — are locked in an unseemly arms race for a vaccine. To them, an inoculation that 7...

Express News Service MALAPPURAM:  For Ajitha EV, helping her people through the difficult times of Covid-19 satisfies her the most. “It is our place. The people are very close to me,” said Ajitha, who works in ward 19 of Malappuram  municipality. Ajitha leads 38 ASHA workers in the civic body. As a member of the Rapid Response Team (RRT), Ajitha ensures people in home quarantine stick to the norms. “I know about every family in the ward and frequently visit their houses with other RRT members or call them over phone,” she said. Ajitha also takes two days’ duty every week at Government Taluk Hospital, Malappuram, and ensures that people with severe illnesses are getting medicines, while children and pregnant women are taking immunization shots. “The workload is double now. I need to walk several kilometres to reach each place. But I am happy to play my part in containing the spread of the virus,” she said. https://ift.tt/2X250I1

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The mobile clinic from Adventist Health Bakersfield has been on the road since 1996, providing free immunizations to county kids for free. Officials said they provided 16,500 vaccinations to children under 18 last year alone. But the Covid-19 pandemic caused the big RV to remain parked for a couple weeks. Recently, it returned to the roadways, packed with new policies for cleaning and safety. Check the May calendar for the nearest location and bring your child's immunization card. If you have any questions, you can call (661) 869-6740. https://ift.tt/2LsMNxT

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Vaccines such as measles, whooping couch and diphtheria are on hold for now as some health care facilities are taking fewer and fewer patients, if any at all.  On Thursday, News 8’s Dr. Mary Gillis, D.Ed., discussed doctors’ concerns about available practitioners to administer necessary immunization and booster shots for young children and teenagers.  Gillis also talked about the risks unvaccinated kids face as the economy reopens.  Watch the video for details. https://ift.tt/2WcG414

Lauren Williams, of Waynesville, gave birth to newborn twins, a girl named Ellis and a boy named Grant, on Feb. 20, weeks before the coronavirus changed almost everything about American life. » CORONAVIRUS: Complete coverage The twins had their first well visit with their pediatrician, Dr. Randy Eisenhut, in Centerville before schools, stores and restaurants across the state closed with Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order. They had their second well visit in April under different circumstances. “Everyone had masks on, so that was different,” Williams said. “They screened us before we came in. We called when we got there. They asked us some questions about how we were feeling: if we had been sick, if the babies had been sick, if we had a temperature. My husband (Brad) and I luckily both got to go because we have two babies, but otherwise only one of us could have gone. We waited in the parking lot until they were ready for us.” Parents and pediatricians have adapted to that kin...

Posted: May 5, 2020 / 10:50 AM EDT / Updated: May 5, 2020 / 10:54 AM EDT HARRISBURG, Pa (WHTM)  – Representative Seth Grove plans to introduce legislation that would allow pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccine once they become available. “Pharmacists are highly trained and are currently allowed to administer flu immunization shots,” Grove said. “My bill addresses the potential issue of long lines of people awaiting a COVID-19 vaccine at their doctor’s offices before the problem arises.” According to a press release from Grove’s office, the bill would allow pharmacists to administer a federally approved vaccine in a manner which complies with the rules and regulations established by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  By increasing the accessibility of a vaccine, once approved, the Commonwealth would be able to leverage skilled pharmacists as a force multiplier to save lives and improve public health according to Grove. Grove says in order to immed...

COTABATO CITY, Maguindano, Philippines — Amid quarantine measures in place to stop the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Bangsamoro health officials vowed there will be no let down in the region’s vaccination program against polio. Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, chief health minister in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, made the assurance as the region observed World Immunization Week against polio this week, a disease causing paralysis or death that has reemerged in the country after 19 years. ADVERTISEMENT “We will do the best that we can, just like what we did during the ‘all-out war against poliovirus,’ to ensure that our children are protected,” Dipatuan said. He said more than 50,000 children were vaccinated against polio in Lanao del Sur last year after a 3-year-old girl contracted the disease in the province’s southern part. FEATURED STORIES Follow up“We want to replicate our success in the all-out war against polio. Maybe we can replicate ...

Amid these uncertain, scary times, when COVID-19 refuses to release its deadly grip on this country, the proverbial seeds are being planted — at least in some parts of the nation — for other health problems, these involving children. There have been no numbers released about how prevalent that situation might be here and, indeed, in the rest of central Pennsylvania, but it is important for that information to be ascertained and disseminated, and for action to prevail, if necessary. According to an April 23 New York Times article headlined “Vaccine rates drop dangerously as parents avoid doctor’s visits,” Times writer Jan Hoffman, who reports on behavioral health and health law, wrote that parents are postponing well-child checkups, including immunization shots, putting millions of children at risk of exposure to preventable deadly diseases. This land does not need more heartache than it already is enduring, especially when such unwanted circumstances involving children are avoidab...

By Irving Wladawsky-Berger May 1, 2020 12:41 pm ET The Blockchain Research Institute is a global think tank dedicated to the strategic implications of blockchain technologies to business, government and society. On March 26, I participated in a virtual roundtable convened by the BRI to discuss the potential use of blockchain technologies for public-health solutions. The roundtable’s findings and recommendations were released in early April in Blockchain Solutions in Pandemics : A Call for Innovation and Transformation in Public Health. The report identified five key areas where blockchain could be deployed to fight Covid-19 as well as future pandemics: identity, health records and shared data; just-in-time supply chains; sustaining the economy; a rapid response registry for medical professionals; and incentives models to reward responsible behavior.  Given the broad scope of the report, I will focus my attention on one area in particular: identity, health records and s...

As parents, you protect your baby from a number of things, from sharp corners in your home to sunburns at the park. You also protect their health by keeping up with doctor’s appointments, which sometimes involve receiving vaccinations. Children, from infancy to adulthood, need certain vaccines that are proven to prevent them from contracting potentially deadly diseases. While some parents might be avoiding the doctor’s office because of concerns about COVID-19, it is important to stay on schedule with those vaccinations, says Dr. Tiffany Hill, a pediatrician with UT Health East Texas Physicians. Pediatric offices at UT Health East Texas remain open and offer a safe way to ensure your child stays on track with their immunizations. We are not only screening all caregivers prior to each shift, we are screening anyone who comes into our clinics. We continue proper distancing, hand sanitizing, masks and additional cleaning measures at our facilities. Dr. Hill offers some tips for par...

By Irving Wladawsky-Berger May 1, 2020 12:41 pm ET The Blockchain Research Institute is a global think tank dedicated to the strategic implications of blockchain technologies to business, government and society. On March 26, I participated in a virtual roundtable convened by the BRI to discuss the potential use of blockchain technologies for public-health solutions. The roundtable’s findings and recommendations were released in early April in Blockchain Solutions in Pandemics : A Call for Innovation and Transformation in Public Health. The report identified five key areas where blockchain could be deployed to fight Covid-19 as well as future pandemics: identity, health records and shared data; just-in-time supply chains; sustaining the economy; a rapid response registry for medical professionals; and incentives models to reward responsible behavior.  Given the broad scope of the report, I will focus my attention on one area in particular: identity, health records and s...