Urge your clients to arm their kids for kindergarten

“It was awful,” said Jason Lawson, “He was in the ICU in isolation for 10 days. The scariest moment was when I thought I could lose my son just because another child wasn’t vaccinated.”

Jason’s son Beckett (at right in the photo) was undergoing chemotherapy several years ago for leukemia. Beckett had 13 months of intense chemotherapy. After that he had maintenance chemo for two years, at which time he could live at home and go to school. But it was at school, in North Vancouver, where he got in to trouble. He caught chicken pox from an unvaccinated child.

This serves as a great reminder to encourage your clients/patients to have their children vaccinated. Kids at age four, who are starting kindergarten, should get vaccinated now, before school starts in September.Booster shots protect against chicken pox, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough.

While serious childhood diseases such as polio and diphtheria are becoming rarer due to routine childhood vaccination programs there’s still cause for concern. As we saw with the recent measles outbreak in the Fraser Valley, and now in Alberta, these diseases are highly infectious and can spread quickly among those who aren’t vaccinated.

Where can my clients/patients get vaccinated?
Vaccines can be obtained for free from family doctors or from public health nurses at VCH community health centres. Find the closest clinic on the VCH website.

Protecting yourself & others
Everyone has a responsibility to protect themselves so they’re not spreading disease to others. Vaccines are as important in protecting adults as children. Make sure you, your children and your clients protection is up to date.

For more information visit the VCH immunization page.