Kidcast explores questions about vaccines with pediatrician Dr. Todd Wolynn

With kids going back to school, vaccines are critical to keeping kids healthy, especially with the measles outbreak that’s at its highest levels since the disease was essentially eliminated in the U.S.  Kristine Sorensen talks with Dr. Todd Wolynn, CEO of Kids Plus Pediatrics, to get the facts on vaccines, clear up any confusion, and learn what parents need to know to keep your kids healthy.

Kristine Sorensen: Dr. Wolynn, we’ve heard about so many measles cases. This is important that parents make a good decision about vaccines, right?

Dr. Todd Wolynn: Yes.  We’re now facing the largest outbreak of measles that we have in close to two decades. When I came out of training a few years later, they had declared measles was eradicated. And last year, we broke a record into the several hundreds of cases of measles this year already. And here we are in August over 1,000. I think it was 1,082 cases as of August 1.

Kristine Sorensen: What vaccine covers measles?

Dr. Todd Wolynn: For the measles protection, you want to get your MMR which stands for your Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine.  That’s going to be given two times — once at one year of age, and again right around four years of age, and it’s a requirement for school entry.

Kristine Sorensen: And for parents who are skeptical or they’re not comfortable or not sure about the vaccine, what do you say?

Dr. Todd Wolynn: I say talk to your pediatrician. It’s totally okay to have questions, and that’s what we’re there for.  We’re there to answer those questions. The one thing I warn parents about is, don’t go online and search the word immunizations or vaccines because you’re going to get millions of hits, of which 99.9% are going to be false, and they’re going to be fiction, and they’re going to scare you, and they have no scientific facts behind them. That’s what your pediatrician or your family practice doctor is there for.

Find more info from the Center for Disease Control here.