Immunization can be discussed as one of the most efficient prevention methods to improve the health status of pediatric and adult populations (Kao, Schneyer, & Bocchini, 2014). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide different types of immunization schedules oriented to increasing the public’s awareness and rising immunization rates in the country. Although the CDC immunization schedules for adults and children are properly formatted, and they include information required for adult patients and parents, the problem of people’s awareness of the necessity of immunization still exists (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Thus, the current immunization issue that affects populations is a lack of education regarding benefits of vaccination. It is also possible to speak about the lack of awareness of this practice’s importance. Furthermore, for pediatric and adult populations, it is important to discuss this issue from different perspectives because the statistics of adult immunization depends on people’s awareness of this practice’s role, and children’s immunization depends on parents’ education regarding vaccines and their use.
The identified immunization issues influence adults and children directly because inadequate education regarding vaccination and the lack of awareness lead to developing severe diseases in different age categories of populations. Thus, when adults demonstrate the misunderstanding of immunization effects, they tend to avoid using vaccines (Tan, 2015). As a result, those people who have chronic conditions become at risk of being infected. It is important to pay attention to the fact that immunization prevents the spread of such diseases as hepatitis, diphtheria, and measles among others (Ventola, 2016). If adults are not aware of real effects of immunization and these diseases on their health, they become vulnerable, and risks of severe complications caused by the development of these conditions increase (Kao et al., 2014). It is important to improve the public’s knowledge regarding vaccine-preventable diseases and the role of immunization in preventing them (Ventola, 2016). Currently, the lack of awareness can be discussed among those problems that prevent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from realizing their immunization schedules to decrease rates of different severe diseases.
The similar issue is related to the question of pediatric immunization. The problem is in the fact that parents often choose to avoid vaccination as a result of the lack of education in this field (Kao et al., 2014). The Vaccines for Children program seems to demonstrate positive results in increasing immunization rates in the United States, but these efforts can be viewed as not enough to address the identified issue (Tan, 2015). The lack of education for parents leads to declining vaccination and increasing risks of developing acellular pertussis, inactivated poliovirus, measles, and tetanus in their children (Tan, 2015; Ventola, 2016). Therefore, it is necessary to revise an approach to educating adults regarding vaccination while paying much attention to educating parents. From this perspective, it is important to state that parents should know that modern vaccines used in the United States are safe, and the probability of adverse effects is minimal (Tan, 2015; Ventola, 2016). Furthermore, parents should be educated regarding the fact that the use of alternative plans for vaccination cannot guarantee such high results as it is in a case of referring to CDC schedules.
As a result, in order to address the issue of the limited awareness of immunization outcomes for both adults and children, it is necessary to improve approaches to patient and parent education and training. It is also important to provide more official information about advantages and disadvantages of immunization on governmental websites. Furthermore, it is significant to guarantee that government-based interventions are in line with community initiatives. All these efforts are important to respond to the problem of the inappropriate education of populations when the lack of information on the use of vaccines can lead to severe diseases.
References
Adams, M. P., Holland, L. N., & Urban, C. Q. (2014). Pharmacology for nurses: A pathophysiologic approach. New York, NY: Pearson Higher Education.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Adult immunization schedule. Web.
Kao, C. M., Schneyer, R. J., & Bocchini, J. A. (2014). Child and adolescent immunizations: Selected review of recent US recommendations and literature. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 26(3), 383-395.
Smith, B. T. (2014). Pharmacology for nurses. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Tan, L. (2015). Adult vaccination: Now is the time to realize an unfulfilled potential. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 11(9), 2158-2166.
Ventola, C. L. (2016). Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, barriers, and measures to improve compliance (Part 1: Childhood vaccinations). Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 41(7), 426-436.