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As families commit to staying home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, pediatricians want to remind parents to continue critical medical care including newborn care and well-child checkups involving childhood vaccines. It’s important that children maintain their vaccination schedule to stay safe and healthy. Pediatrician offices have created ways to allow well children to safely access these important appointments.
Jade Elliott talks with Dr. Neal Davis, Pediatrician, Intermountain Healthcare, about making sure your kids stay up to date on checkups and vaccines during this unusual time on this episode of the Baby Your Baby Podcast.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a statement emphasizing the importance of newborn care and well child care as it relates to maintaining childhood vaccines, particularly in young children. Medical providers for children around the state of Utah have largely adopted practices suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics that minimize risk COVID 19 exposure and allow for the delivery of services to newborns and young children.
According to the CDC, these strategies include a combination of ways to separate children who are sick from children who come for well-child checkups in the following ways:
• Scheduling well visits in the morning and sick visits in the afternoon.
• Separating patients spatially, such as by placing patients with sick visits in different areas of the clinic or another location from patients with well visits.
• Collaborating with providers in the community to identify separate locations for holding well visits for children.
Many clinics are using other innovative strategies as well, such as check-ins from cars and expedited rooming, avoiding waiting rooms altogether.
If a clinic is able to provide only limited well-child visits, the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics encourages newborn care and vaccinations for children through age 24 months to take priority. Providers also may opt for telemedicine options.
Contact your child’s medical office to learn about the specific practices they are using to provide needed services while reducing the risk of COVID-19 exposure. If you have questions, ask! Providers want to work with families to keep children well, and ensure they stay on schedule with immunizations.
More information:
CDC: Maintaining Childhood Vaccinations During COVID 19 Pandemic
American Academy of Pediatrics: Minimizing COVID 19 Exposure in Medical Offices for Children
The Baby Your Baby program provides many resources for all pregnant women and new moms in Utah. There is also expert advice from the Utah Department of Health and Intermountain Healthcare that air each week on KUTV 2News.
The Baby Your Baby program provides many resources for all pregnant women and new moms in Utah. There is also expert advice from the Utah Department of Health and Intermountain Healthcare that air each week on KUTV 2News.