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Kids are behind on routine vaccines required to attend school due to the pandemic canceling all non-essential visits to doctors last year. As such, healthcare professionals are working overtime to ensure that the backlog of kids still waiting to get their routine vaccines from last year does not preclude them from being able to enter school this year, according to Medical Xpress.
The problem began when kids were due for their vaccines last year and doctors' offices were closed to everyone but those who needed emergency care as a result of COVID cases skyrocketing around the United States. As a result, their vaccination schedule was put on hold until offices could open again in the future.
When offices did open again, however, parents' priority was not getting their kids caught up on their routine vaccines, according to ABC News. Instead, they wanted to do anything but be inside or worry about healthcare appointments after hearing nothing about COVID for the past several months.
And because many did not get into doctors' offices when there was an opportunity to get an appointment while the COVID numbers dropped, they are now left scrambling to find appointments to get the required vaccines for kids to reenter school.
While most schools allow for a grace period in which kids can come to school before they receive their necessary, routine vaccines, the fear is that that window is going to pass and kids are going to be told that they cannot return to school until they are up to date on their vaccines.
Making the situation worse, is the fact that the number of people getting infected from COVID and the Delta variant has begun to rise exponentially. Because of this, doctors' offices are beginning to fill again with not only sick people but those who have decided to get their COVID vaccine.
And according to Medical Xpress, more wanting their COVID vaccines has led to a shortage of medical supplies to be used for routine vaccines.
With communities divided on getting the COVID vaccine, it has now also turned into parents wondering whether to have their kids vaccinated for routine vaccines, according to ABC News. Others still are just burned out on vaccine talk in general and are in no hurry to get vaccines of any kind for anyone in their families.
It remains to be seen if it is going to take kids being told that they are not allowed to return to school until they are vaccinated to motivate parents to get their kids the routine vaccinations, they have been getting them for years. Nor is it known if extensions on these grace periods will be given due to doctors' offices not having appointments.
What is known is that until kids get caught up on their vaccines, the healthcare community is going to be holding their breath that kids do not become sick from an illness that a simple vaccine could have avoided.
Source: Medical Xpress, ABC News