Public health officials remind parents to vaccinate children before school begins

Editors note: This is part one of a five part back to school health and safety series.

With school beginning once again for students in Henry, Jefferson and Washington counties, parents have the added responsibility of making sure their students not only have all the supplies they need, but the proper vaccines as well.

Lynn Fisher, nurse at Washington County Public Health, said by the time students go to school they need to have five tetanus shots, four for polio, three for hepatitis, two for measles and two for varicella, also known as chickenpox. Traditionally, a child would begin receiving those shots after they turn two months old, and then continue getting them periodically throughout their lives.

By the time they reach four years old, they will be ready for two measles shots and two varicella shots. These are required for students to enter Kindergarten and can be received as soon as they turn four. They do not have to have them a certain amount of time before school starts, they only need to be completed by the time they get to school, she said.

'Sometimes children do get behind, so we do help children and families get caught up,” she said.

Fisher said the health department will issue an audit to all the schools to receive medical records, typically in October, to double check that all students are up to date. If they do get behind, and have not received their shots, they have 60 days to schedule the appointment and have them administered.

The two exceptions to the rule are a medical exemption and a religious exemption. A medical exemption is recognized by the state as someone who cannot have a vaccine due to a medical condition and needs to have documentation signed by their primary health care provider. A religious exemption may be administered by a parent or guardian signing off and the document must be notarized.

Anyone who still needs immunizations can get them done by their primary health care provider, or in some cases, at the public health office, Fisher said. Students covered by Medicaid, who have no insurance or are Native American or Alaskan Native may receive vaccines form the public health department as they are covered under the Vaccines for Children program provided by the state of Iowa.

Fisher said she would encourage anyone who is able to receive a vaccine to do so because not only does it prevent disease from forming in one child, it prevents it from spreading to a larger group.

'Children will be in close contact now with many children, compared to their preschool and before school lives, so we're really trying to prevent children from contracting diseases,” she said.

Students who do not get vaccinated are at a risk of disease and serious illness. By vaccinating the majority of the population, she said, those who cannot receive immunizations will be protected because the diseases will not be able to get a 'foothold” if they have fewer susceptible immune systems to prey on.

Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact a local health care provider or public health department. Fisher said the back to school time may be busy and overwhelming, but medical professionals are always at the ready to help.

'We want to help parents get through this and get onto the first day of school,” she said.