Let's Applaud the Local Outreach.
Aug 11, 2010
By Christine Vara
As you can imagine, writing blog content on Shot of Prevention for the past few months has made me acutely aware of various immunization issues I may have overlooked in the past. Often I am discouraged by the news of low immunization rates, vaccine refusal or rising rates of disease. So imagine my delight when I received an email this afternoon from my very own school system alerting me of a local immunization clinic.
I must say that I was very impressed. The outreach from the Fairfax County Health Department, here in VA was very informative. It encouraged parents to review immunization requirements before school begins, it outlined new VA legislation that resulted in changes to the vaccine requirements for certain age groups, and it listed extended clinic hours for free immunizations. It even recognized that August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) and outlined the goal of increasing awareness about immunizations across the life span, from infants to elderly.
So, I am just ecstatic. There is hope, because there is clear communication. Now I need to ask you….have you reviewed your children’s immunization records lately? Has your state, live VA, changed legislation within the past year that may require vaccinations that hadn’t previously been required? Why not take a moment to check with your local health department. If you discover that changes have been made within the past year, please post them in the comments below. We must all do our part to educate each other about school required vaccinations. This will work to ensure the highest level of herd immunity for our children in the classroom. It should only take a moment so please do it now!
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Christine, I would go even a step further and ask parents to look at what is recommended for their child, not just required. The changes to Virginia’s requirements for school entry are great and mirror the ACIP recommendations. But when it comes to pre-teens, there are several necessary vaccines for this age group that are recommended to keep this age group (and others by default) healthy but are not necessarily required for middle school. So glad Fairfax took the time and effort to educate parents!