This post was sponsored by Unity Consortium as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
It’s back to school season and I’m sure you’ve spent countless hours shopping for clothing and supplies, while getting prepared for your teen’s new year in school. Teens entering high school are a whole new adventure for us parents and it can get overwhelming when you start thinking about all of the things that this journey entails. Your child may have a change in personality, how they dress or who they hang out with as they try to find themselves and become a unique individual. You might be asking yourself questions like “Will my teen ever stop growing?”, “Will they eat us out of house and home?” or “Does my teen need vaccines?”.
Those are all legitimate questions and the answers are yes, your teen will stop growing eventually, their appetite may or may not decrease and yes, they likely need a few vaccines. You see, teenagers will soon become adults, yet it’s still important for them to have annual check ups just like they did when they were little. There are also vaccines that they will need to help keep them immune from preventable, yet dangerous diseases.
The recommended vaccines for tweens and teens include Meningococcal-includes two distinct meningococcal disease vaccines (ACWY and B) and Tdap-tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough), Td Booster (tetanus and diphtheria) and Flu. Our area actually has an outbreak of pertussis last year and when Lil Man got a nasty cough and cold that wouldn’t go away, we immediately feared the worst and thought perhaps he had it. Thank goodness it wasn’t the case and the fact that he was vaccinated for it likely helped.
Unity Consortium put together this infographic regarding teen vaccinations and the results are quite shocking. In fact, preventative health doesn’t seem like a huge priority for many teens and their parents, despite many of them thinking it is important. About 1 in 4 parents and teens actually think that vaccines are more important for babies than they are for teens and a whopping 34% of teens don’t know how vaccines help them.
Talking to a physician about preventative health measures such as vaccines is actually quite reduced because 4 in 10 parents believe that their teen should only see a doctor when they feel sick. Unity Consortium’s goal is to change that and has made it a goal to ensure that 9 in 10 tweens and teens are fully vaccinated against preventable diseases. so when you ask yourself, “Does my teen need vaccines as we’re heading back to school?”, the answer might be yes. Generally, kids between 11-12 and 16-years of age should get recommended vaccinations.
