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School Immunizations

Staying up-to-date on the recommended vaccines helps families protect their children from serious, life-threatening infections.

Vaccines offer safe and effective protection from infectious diseases. Because children are especially vulnerable to infection, most vaccines are given during the first five to six years of life. Dr. Michelle Minor, assistant professor of pediatrics at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, says children starting kindergarten and 9 th grade are required to have specific vaccinations.

SOUND BITE: " . . . for kindergarten, they would need their last dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine, the last polio vaccine and the last measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. And then going into freshman year, they would need one tetanus."

Vaccines are responsible for the disappearance of several diseases including small pox, which was eradicated in 1980. And they have caused polio, measles and rubella to nearly disappear as a public health threat in the United States. Dr. Minor says vaccines are very safe.

SOUND BITE: "They’re held to extremely rigorous safety standards and are probably among the safest thing we can put into our bodies. The law actually requires often 10 years or more of testing before a vaccine will even be licensed. And even once it’s out, it is constantly being reevaluated."

Parents should make sure their children get the required vaccinations at the scheduled times. If they have questions about vaccines, they should talk to their primary care physician or pediatrician.