With school right around the corner, it’s time to get ready for all things back to school, including vaccinations.
August is National Immunization Awareness month.
“Vaccines are very, very important,” Dr. Karen Soriano said. “One, because it can prevent diseases for your child and for other people.”
Dr. Soriano said different ages and grades will have different vaccines they need.
“The more important one, school-wise, is preschoolers,” she said. “So they’re going to get their 4-year-old shots, which is the boosters of the measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and their polio vaccines.”
Middle-school age kids will have a different set of vaccines they will need.
“It’s also very important that they are re-immunized and of course new ones are also given, especially meningitis, and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis again,” Dr. Soriano said.
“Of course, high schoolers, we already give the boosters of the 11 year old shots at 16, this is the time again where we may have to review the Tdap, as well as the meningitis,” she said.
Dr. Soriano said when you take your kids in to get vaccines, it can also be a good time for parents to review when their last vaccinations were as well.
“We always have to have those, still those boosters, especially with first time parents, and you haven’t had any vaccines in a long time, you’re bringing home a newborn, or a relative is having a newborn coming in, then that’s a time to re-address or review,” she said.
Dr. Soriano said it’s still a little early for the flu vaccine, but it’s on the horizon.
“It’s coming up soon, probably by around September,” she said. “It varies in terms of when we release, when it’s been released, it’s been released a little bit early, as soon as we get it, between earliest we’ve seen it before is August, come September for sure, it’s going to be around.”
