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Adults Are Forgetting To Stay Up-To-Date With Vaccinations

Pranidchakan Boonrom
/
Pexels.com

Tippecanoe County Health Department officials say they’re seeing cases of whooping cough among middle- and high schoolers this winter.

But because most kids get vaccinated against that disease any several others as kids, it’s the adults they’re around who may be most at risk.

Tippecanoe County Health Officer Jeremy Adler says more needs to be done to remind adults their childhood shots lose potency over time. Advising, "[getting] the word out better to encourage adults to get the recommended vaccines."

Dr. Adler says if parents were as rigorous with keeping themselves healthy and updating their shots as they are with their children, the county’s overall health would improve. But he says adults aren’t often reminded, because workplaces don’t usually require immunizations and most doctors don’t tell adults to get shots until they’re elderly or about to travel overseas.

A recent study from Becker Hospital Review also says adults are seeing their physicians less.

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