Skipping rope is a forward motion propelled by a hop or bounce from one foot to the other. It provides a full-body workout. You use your abs to stabilize your torso, your legs for lifting yourself off the ground, and your arms to turn the rope.

Singer Katy Perry is a skipping enthusiast. So are the actors Michael B. Jordan ("Black Panther") and Jake Gyllenhaal ("Spider-Man").

But skipping isn't always a smart move. Unfortunately, during the six weeks from April 1 to May 15, parents skipped 75% of their kids' recommended vaccinations.

That means that more than 800,000 children have not gotten their vitally needed vaccinations to protect them from brain-damaging and potentially lethal diseases such as measles, whooping cough, tetanus, chickenpox, polio, and more once-prevalent contagions.

The risks that those diseases pose to your child's health and well-being far, far exceed the risk of contracting COVID-19 from a visit to your pediatrician's office.

And while no vaccine is 100% safe, the risk of becoming seriously ill from a vaccine — compared with the high chance of preventing a serious illness — is about one in 40,000.

Those are odds we would take anytime. So should you.

Check out the recommended vaccination schedule for kids from birth to age 18 at www.cdc.gov/vaccines, and call your pediatrician for an appointment today.

Adults also need booster shots and annual flu shots, and those over 65 should get pneumonia and shingles inoculations.