8-15-06

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. Craig Batterman, assistant professor of pediatrics at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, says children starting kindergarten are required to have specific vaccinations.

SOUND BITE: " . . . between 4 and 6 years old, we do a further set of boosters including DTAP, which is tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and then . . . polio at that time. .. If they have completed the infant schedule, they need three more shots before they enter kindergarten."

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. Batterman, who is also on the medical staff for St. John’s Children’s Hospital, says vaccines are safe.

SOUND BITE: "We vaccinate millions of kids per year across the United States with all the studies out there, the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, American Academy of Pediatrics -- studies have been done again and again on the safety of these vaccines and the components therein and I can tell my patients, they are indeed safe."

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, pediatrician or local public health department.

This is Ruth Slottag at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.