For Parents: New iPhone App Reminds About Vaccinations

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Vaccination Scheduler, a new iPhone app, is helping parents protect their children by sending them reminders for when their children's vaccinations are due. By vaccinating according to the recommended schedule parents greatly reduce the chance of their children becoming infected.

Whooping cough is on track to become the most severe preventable epidemic in over a half century with 18 deaths and around 41,000 cases reported by The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2012. One of the causes is the decline in adequate and timely vaccine protection.

Whooping cough is most dangerous for babies and young children and parents have a responsibility to make sure their children are vaccinated and at the right time.

Research into the causes of missed vaccination appointments highlighted that 80% of parents relied on prompting by their friends, mothers groups and childcare centres to remind them when their child's vaccination is due. Vaccination Scheduler was designed to address this problem, as Jeri Murphy, a mother of 3, experienced.

"Like many working mums my life is busy and remembering my children's vaccination dates is not always at the top of my mind. What would have been a simple task before has created more stress in having to implement a catch-up immunisation schedule. This vaccination app would have saved me all the stress and wasted time" says Jeri.

The CDC recommends that children be vaccinated against whooping cough with a series of shots at ages 2, 4, 6 and 15 months and again at 4 years. "Vaccinations are considered preventive medicine. That is, they consist of measures taken to prevent the infection, rather than curing or treating their symptoms. By immunizing our children we are also trying to protect whole communities. Advises Dr David Katz, Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center.

"We should recognize that when it comes to contagion, not one of us is an island. By immunizing your children you're not just helping prevent them from contracting whooping cough but also helping prevent the spreading this highly contagious and preventable infection."

Vaccination Scheduler asks parents to enter their child's date of birth and name, the app then automatically fills in its calendar of dates specifically for each of your children. The app then sends them alerts for of every upcoming vaccination appointment they need to make and what it is for. It can manage up to 6 children and also tracks their complete vaccination history.

Vaccination schedules are based on the latest published information from the CDC. The app is a $0.99 and available for the iPhone & iPad. Please download Vaccination Scheduler from the app store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/vaccination-scheduler/id563213898?mt=8