Back-to-School Safety: Make Certain Your Children Are Fully Vaccinated
Making certain that young children receive their recommended vaccinations is particularly important for their long-term health ― as well as for the health of their friends and classmates. Vaccines protect children against common seasonal diseases like the flu, but they also help prevent much rarer, more serious diseases.
All parents can determine what vaccines their children need and when the doses should be administered by consulting the nationally recommended Childhood Immunization Schedules, available on the web site of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If a child falls behind schedule on his or her vaccinations, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the best way to catch up. To help, the CDC has developed a Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler -- an online tool that shows parents and healthcare providers the best options for getting children six years of age and younger back on schedule.
Immunization is one of the most significant public health achievements in our history. Vaccines have been responsible for the eradication of smallpox, the elimination of wild poliovirus in the U.S., and great reductions in the prevalence of measles, diphtheria, rubella and pertussis. Despite these successes, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. continue to die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year.
Back-to-School season is a great time to remind family, friends, co-workers, and others to talk with their doctors to make sure they’re up-to-date on their vaccinations.
To find more information regarding immunization recommendations, check out the following links:
- 2008 Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedules
- Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler
- Receive e-mail updates on the Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler (to ensure you have the latest version)
- Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunization (detailed information on vaccines and immunization)
- Vaccine Safety Information for Parents
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