Reclaiming the Health Misinformation Spiral on Social Media
As medical students and future pediatricians, we recognize that childhood vaccines are one of the single greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries. Yet, for one of us, a pregnant cousin announced over the Thanksgiving dinner table that she wasn’t going to vaccinate her unborn child. No matter the facts, research, or […]
AAP Guidelines: ‘Watchful Waiting’ No Longer the Right Call for Child Obesity
In contrast to previous recommendations, pediatricians and other pediatric healthcare providers are advised to provide “immediate, intensive obesity treatment to each patient” as soon as they receive a diagnosis, according to new guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The guidance, published in Pediatrics, marks the AAP’s first clinical practice guideline outlining evidence-based evaluation […]
A Letter From the Front Lines of Quarantining With Kids
We saw this coming. Pediatricians sounded the alarm as cases of viral upper respiratory infections poured into our emergency departments, wards, and pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) earlier this summer. We warned citizens and lawmakers about what might happen if we sent our children back to school without reliable mitigation efforts in place. As a […]
Teens Need Later School Start Times
Daily cries from parents, pediatricians, the press, and the public to reopen schools in the fall are certainly well-intentioned, but they are overlooking a critical opportunity to advance adolescent physical and mental health long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Delaying school start times for teens by an hour, or even two, could optimize a […]