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More shots for students required |
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Thursday, 18 March 2010 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
Additional immunizations are required for two groups of students to start school in the fall.
Children entering kindergarten and seventh-grade are subject to the changes in immunizations previously recommended and now required by the Ohio Department of Health, according to its updated chart.
The changes take effect with the new school year with requirements to be enforced progressively and extended to students as they move up the ranks in schools.
Required now will be a second dose of varicella (chicken pox vaccine) for all kindergartners and TDAP(tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine) or TD (tetanus and diphtheria) for seventh-graders.
All students entering kindergarten also must have the final dose of polio vaccine administered on or after their fourth-birthday, regardless of the number of previous doses. Students are to have at least four doses of the vaccine.
A national increase in the contraction of chicken pox and whooping cough prompted the Ohio Department of Health to require additional immunizations for students entering kindergarten and seventh-grade in the fall.
Auglaize County Nursing Supervisor Cindy Jones said she has seen an increase in pertussis here, including in those who have been appropriately immunized for their age.
“They don’t have the ability to sustain immunity without the full series,” Jones said.
While the TDAP has been recommended for children once they turn 11- or 12-years-old, only 30 percent have received it.
Other immunizations required for students by the Ohio Department of Health are measles, mumps, rubella and Hepatitis B. Recommended vaccines include those for human papillomavirus and meningitis.
Jones said because of the time frame during which all the state’s current sixth-graders are to be immunized before starting their seventh-grade years, health departments are allowed to go into schools as approved by individual districts to immunize there, with the parents’ permission. They are planning to do that locally before schools let out for the summer.
“We’re going to be working hard to get this information home and parents notified about the changes,” Jones said.
She said parents may opt out, the main reason for which they see being religious, but if there is an outbreak at the school, a non-immunized child could not attend until the outbreak is over.
“It could be a lengthy amount of time they are missing class,” Jones said. “We encourage everyone unless they are allergic to a specific ingredient or have a reaction not to chose to opt out.”
Immunizations can be received not only at schools with parent permission but through the Health Department’s regular clinics or appointments with family physicians.
With some of the vaccines there are waiting requirements between doses, such as with Varicella, which requires three months between immunizations. Students who are attempting to receive all the required vaccines but may not before the first day of school because of those waiting periods would be labeled as “in progress” and would be able to start, said Brenda Eiting, a registered nurse with the Health Department.
“The boosters make sure the children are best protected,” Eiting said. “It’s doing what’s best for the child’s health.They were recommended for their health anyway before for years, but not mandated, now they are being required to protect the community as well.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 March 2010 )
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