Vaccines On the Go: What You Should Know
Sep 06, 2013
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Vaccine Education Center is an excellent resource for both parents and healthcare professionals. The extensive website provides a close-up look at every vaccine as well as specific explanations about the science, safety and important considerations regarding vaccines. There is even a feature that allows the public to submit specific questions for review and response by immunization experts.
Now, with their new free mobile app for iPhones Vaccines on the Go: What You Should Know, the Vaccine Education Center is extending their accessibility and putting critical vaccine information in the hands of those who need it, when they need it.
The app, available now through the Apple App Store, is cleverly designed to provide extensive information about vaccines, the diseases they prevent, and common vaccine safety concerns such as autism, thimerosal and the number of vaccines on the schedule. Additionally, the app addresses the various types of vaccines and how they’re made, and includes links to the recommended immunization schedules for children, teens and adults. It provides users with the ability to access an extensive library of videos, Q&A sheets and booklets while utilizing engaging graphics that help depict disease characteristics, such as levels of contagiousness and typical disease timelines.
There is even a useful function that allows parents to develop a list of questions and save them along with other notes that they would like to discuss with their doctor. If they prefer to get their questions answered right away, they can utilize the app to send a direct email to the Vaccine Education Center for follow-up. And of course, no app would be complete without a few items of entertainment and this app delivers the fun with vaccine related games such as hangman, match and memory.
So whether you’re someone with limited knowledge about vaccines, or an expert in infectious diseases or immunology, we encourage you to download the app and provide your feedback in the comments below.
What do you find most helpful? And what would you like to see expanded or improved upon?
Your input will likely be considered in the development of future updates to the app.
Also, by submitting a comment on this post, you’ll be automatically entered into Every Child By Two’s free drawing to receive a special Vaccine Education Center Materials Companion Kit, pictured above. The winner will be chosen at random on September 27th and contacted via email on September 30th.
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