As school starts back up it's a good time for parents to review their child's immunization record.
Depending on your child's age, there may be additional vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends.
Jayme Garcia, a Smith's Pharmacist, joined us with information for parents.
Children entering both kindergarten and 7th grade must show proof of receiving certain vaccines in order to be able to attend school.
For kindergarten entry, required vaccines are those which are administered according to the CDC's schedule for children starting at 2 months of age.
Then, at age 11-12 years old, when kids enter 7th grade, there are 3 additional vaccines they should receive: Tdap, (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis), HPV (human papilloma virus) and meningococcal conjugate vaccine.
After 7th grade entry, one additional vaccine – serogroup B meningococcal vaccine – is recommended at age 16.
Jayme says, "Also, all kids are recommended to get a flu vaccine each year, and it's important that we add COVID-19 vaccine to the list as being very important for all children 6 months and older."
Vaccines prevent serious illness and even death from infections.
They are extremely important not only to protect the individual receiving the vaccine but to protect those most vulnerable in our communities, including young infants and others who, for whatever reason, cannot be vaccinated and are unprotected.
Smith's pharmacists provide the vaccines and no appointment is necessary.
They also offer onsite vaccine clinics at businesses as well.
Stop by your local Smith's Pharmacy and speak with the pharmacist, or visit smithsfoodanddrug.com and click on the pharmacy link.
