Don’t skip child’s vaccinations

Skipping while using a jump rope is a forward motion propelled by a hop or bounce from one foot to the other. It provides a full-body workout. You use your abs to stabilize your torso, your legs for lifting yourself off the ground and your arms to turn the rope. Singer Katy Perry is an enthusiast. So are the actors Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther”) and Jake Gyllenhaal (“Spider-Man”).

But skipping isn’t always a smart move. And, unfortunately, during the six weeks from April 1 to May 15, parents skipped 75% of their kids’ recommended vaccinations. That means that more than 800,000 children have not gotten their vitally needed vaccinations to protect them from brain-damaging and potentially lethal diseases such as measles, whooping cough, tetanus, chickenpox, polio and many more once-prevalent diseases.

The risks that those diseases pose to your child’s health and wellbeing far, far exceed the risk of contracting COVID-19 from a visit to your pediatrician’s office. And while no vaccine is 100% safe, the risk of becoming seriously ill from a vaccine compared with the chance of preventing a serious illness is about one in 40,000. That’s odds we would take anytime — and so should you.

Check out the recommended vaccination schedule for kids from birth to age 18 at www.cdc. gov/vaccines and call your pediatrician for an appointment today! P.S. Adults need booster shots and annual flu shots, plus those over 65 need pneumonia and shingles inoculations; go to www.cdc.gov and search for vaccine information for adults.