Understanding the Role of Nurses in Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Children and Adolescents

Running head: CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 1
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING
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CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 2
Developing an understanding of the role of the nurse
Whether to or not to vaccinate ones child is amongst the preliminary medical-related
choices parents have got to render after child delivery. For the past twenty years, parents
choosing never to immunize their children have increased in different countries, for a number of
reasons (Fefferman & Naumova, 2015). Among these, information affirming that vaccination
might include harmful chemicals or perhaps prompt some serious chronic diseases. They have
adversely influenced parental behaviour toward pediatric immunization particularly vaccination
against measles , mumps and rubella ( MMR ), which in turn elevates numerous the public health
outcomes(Edwards, Hackell, Committee on Infectious Diseases& Committee on Practice and
Ambulatory Medicine, 2016). The primary aim of this assignment is to describe information
which would be provided to Susan in this scenario around vaccine safety and risks which are
associated to refusing MMR vaccine, drawing on to the current evidence. It would also discuss
strategies which would be used to promote effective communication with parents who had
concerns regarding vaccination.
Vaccination is a highly effective approach to prevent various infectious diseases. For a
person, and society in regards to the public health, prevention is a lot better even more
economical than treatment (MacDonald, 2015). Vaccines are usually very safe and adverse
reactions usually are unheard of. The routine immunization programmes generally safeguard
many of the globe children from numerous infectious diseases that had earlier claimed millions
of lives every year. When it comes to travellers, vaccination provides the possibility to avoid
numerous dangerous diseases which could be encountered abroad (Fefferman, &Naumova,
2015). Measles is an infectious ailment , that could result in serious problems particularly in the
children who are the age of 5 years and grownups that are over the age of twenty ( Hockenberry,

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 3
Wilson & Rodgers , 2016). The most effective measles containing vaccine is MMR vaccine,
which also protect one from mumps, an illness that is identified by inflammation of salivary
glands, and rubella, which is an infection that could result in more severe complication in fetus in
case it was acquired by an expectant mother (MacDonald, 2015).
The parental concern regarding this scenario about Joshua, not given MMR vaccine, the
mother refuses, stating that she has read some concerning information on the internet in relation
to potential links between the MMR vaccine and autism(Hockenberry, Wilson& Rodgers,
2016).The parents are advised to immunize their kids against MMR, but the final decision
generally lies to them. This policy necessitates informed, autonomous decisions, which assumes
parents do posses the appropriate and accurate information in regards to both the risks and
benefits of the vaccination. This really is similar to the ailment, skill to judge precisely what is
much more ideal to their children and motivation to apply autonomously to such decision
(MacDonald, 2015). The parents are supposed to be well-informed and should be empowered to
make their own personal choice, whether or not their ultimate decision will surely gratify the
official guidelines.
Vaccine behavior generally falls on the continuum. At one end, you will find those
parents that are entirely in preference of the vaccines, and on the other end there are certainly
parents who confound the vaccines. In this scenario parent of Joshua is opposing this vaccination
emphasizing it is related to autism (Phadke et al 2016). The common thread which is among all
the parents no matter their vaccination choices is that they try to do whatever they feel ideal to
their children. With the parents who fall when it comes to the vaccine opposing end of spectrum,
health care providers encounter problems when they make sure to change on their attitudes about
the vaccines (Phadke et al 2016). These parents might have sturdy feeling and they are much