Back to School Immunizations

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – August means back to school for area kids and for many families that includes new clothes, supplies and immunizations.

Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department Director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Tiffany McFee talked about the importance of getting kids vaccinated as well as the options that are available for getting and keeping their immunizations up to date. 

“During the school years, children get immunized against Hepatitis B, they get immunized against Chicken Pox, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Meningococcal, that’s a big one. Actually, we now have a newer vaccine that includes all of the strains of the Meningococcal Disease in it, A B C W and Y. And that’s for kids in the 16 to 18 range,” McFee said.

She also explained how the different vaccines have different durations of effectiveness and that kids are entered into a statewide immunization registry each time they receive a vaccination so that healthcare providers can safely, keep track of their immunization history. 

“Some parents take their kids/children to the pediatricians and they can get all of their vaccines updated there,” McFee said. “We also give the vaccines here at the health department. So we are open Monday through Friday for appointments for vaccines and then we are also offering some Saturday clinics on August 24th, September 7th, and September 14th, from 9 to Noon, by an appointment. The school nurses are probably going to be reaching out to parents for any children that are not up to date and letting them know the children will need their updated vaccines soon.”

The health department encourages parents to be proactive towards keeping their children’s vaccinations up to date and noted that basic vaccination information can be found online.