Abstract
The immunization of children against a vast number of life-threatening infectious
agents has been hailed as one of the greatest public health interventions of the twentieth
century. In America, the morbidity and mortality associated with many common childhood
infectious diseases has all but vanished. State-based school entry vaccination laws
play a significant role in achieving high immunization rates among children and adolescents.
Alarmingly, there is no consistent regulation in place to monitor the immunization
status of the ever-growing home-schooled population. It is widely unknown whether
the nearly 2 million home-schooled children are adequately immunized. As the home
schooling movement continues to gain ground in the United States, pediatric nurse
practitioners in the primary care setting will play an important role in protecting
the health of these children, as well as the public's health.
Key words
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Biography
Bonnie K. Choi, Nurse Practitioner, Division of Otolaryngology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.
Biography
Mary Lou Manning, Associate Professor Director, Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson School of Nursing, Philadelphia, PA.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 13, 2009
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
