Summer Serves as Reminder to Check Your Child’s Immunization Status

Health officials with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) Bureau for Public Health are urging parents to have their children’s immunization status reviewed early in the summer in order to be prepared for the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
“Now is the time for parents to begin scheduling required school vaccinations with their doctor’s offices as many health care providers will be very busy with immunizations and sports physicals in the weeks prior to the start of school,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, Commissioner and State Health Officer. “We need to ensure our children are safe from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
The required school entry shots for West Virginia are:
•    Children entering a West Virginia school for the first time from kindergarten through grade 12 are required to have the DTaP, polio, MMR, chickenpox and hepatitis B vaccines. Children who are not behind schedule can receive school entry “booster” doses.
•    7th graders must show proof they received a dose of Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough); and a dose of the meningitis vaccine.
•    12th graders must show proof of a dose of Tdap and a second dose of the meningitis vaccine, if the first dose of the meningitis vaccine was given before the child’s sixteenth birthday. If the first dose was given after the 16th birthday, a second dose of the meningitis vaccine is not required.
“Age-appropriate immunization protects the public health of not only the immunized students from vaccine-preventable diseases, but also reduces the risk of spreading diseases to classmates including those with weakened immune systems, pre-school aged children, the elderly and others,” Gupta added.
To learn more about required school entry immunizations, please visit www.immunization.wv.gov.