With the first day of school less than a month away, the Iowa Department of Public Health recommends parents make sure their children’s vaccines are up-to-date. For kids entering school for the first time, several immunizations are required. Betty Krones, a disease prevention specialist at the Cerro Gordo County Health Department, says it’s a long list.
Krones says kids should have had the required five D-TAP or diphtheria-tetanus-and-pertussis vaccines, two M-M-R or measles-mumps-rubella shots, the varicella or chickenpox vaccine, and other shots to cover polio and hepatitis-B. Krones says kindergarteners aren’t the only students who need vaccinations before heading back to school.
Most colleges recommending students have the hepatitis-B series of three shots and many colleges also require two M-M-Rs. Krones says many college-aged kids will have already gotten the required immunizations.
Kids who started school from 1991 or after should have already had the M-M-Rs and the D-TAPs. For a list of vaccinations kids need, you can visit the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health’s website at “www.cghealth.com”.