AB025. Not a measly discovery

Abstract: This presentation will discuss the measles, a childhood communicable disease, and emphasize the importance of parental education. Significantly, the presentation will elaborate on important roles portrayed by healthcare providers with improving vaccination rates and gaining parental compliance. Recently, there has been a hasty resurgence of measles outbreaks in the United States, which have resulted in parental panic and fear. In 2018, there were approximately 372 confirmed measles cases [Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2019]. Amusingly, this year alone, there have been 127 documented measles cases, with three linked to metro Atlanta (CDC, 2019). Ironically, this population consists of individuals who were unvaccinated and under vaccinated. Notably, the measles (Rubeola) is a vaccine preventable disease (VPD), denoting its most detrimental effect to the pediatric population, especially infants and children who are immunocompromised. Hence, it is high priority for healthcare providers to implement a stepwise approach to vaccination awareness by offering parental education during the prenatal, post-natal, and initial infant visits. As an effort to eradicate measles and seal parental knowledge and vaccination compliance gaps, evidence-based vaccine education must be initiated and include blended methods of visually enhanced learning and motivational interviewing (Kubin, 2019). Overall, healthcare providers play crucial roles in improving vaccination rates. Vaccine programs are successful and notably prevent 2–3 million deaths globally (World Health Organization, 2019). The Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)Vaccine is a two-dose series, with the first dose given between 12–15 months of age and the second dose given between 4–6 years of age. Educating parents regarding communicable diseases and prevention must take top priority.

Keywords: Vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs); measles, mumps & rubella (MMR), Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP); visually enhanced education (VEE); motivational interviewing (MI); herd immunity