Allen County schools stress immunizations

By

Local News

August 16, 2018 - 10:58 AM

As local students head back to class, most will come armed with the extra protection of being immunized.
All school districts require incoming students to have up-to-date immunizations, though it’s up to each district to enforce the policy. Parents can submit a waiver, exempting a child from immunizations because of religious reasons. Those exemptions are rare, school officials said.
At USD 257, all of this year’s incoming kindergartners were fully immunized by the first day of school Wednesday, said Kim Peterson, school nurse.
“This is the first year it’s been that easy,“ she said. “There’s always some who wait until the last minute and couldn’t get in or didn’t start immunizing until late so they’re playing catch-up.”
If families have started the immunization process but are behind, the child can attend school as long as they continue to receive vaccines as required. The district meets with families of prospective kindergarten students in April or May to brief them on expectations. That makes the process easier as the start of the school year approaches.
A few students have exemptions for religious reasons, Peterson said. Students also can receive an exemption for medical reasons, but that requires a doctor’s permission to exempt the child each year. The district doesn’t have any students with a medical exemption, she said.
At Marmaton Valley Elementary School in Moran, secretary Cynthia Johnson said Wednesday she had received the first exemption letter in her 25 years at the school. Otherwise, she said, students almost always come to school fully immunized. If a student shows up without up-to-date records, the district allows them 30 days to obtain the shots.
The Humboldt school district requires students to be fully immunized but district nurse Wendy Froggatte said the policy hasn’t been strictly enforced until about the past two years. She estimates nearly all students are up-to-date on their shots and the number of students with exemptions is likely fewer than five.
It’s important for students to be fully vaccinated against childhood diseases to protect themselves and others, she said.
“There’s going to be a few that don’t have their immunizations,” Froggatte said. “But we all work together as a team to make sure students are protected.”
The Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department typically sees a rush of students, mostly incoming kindergarteners and seventh graders, in the week or two before school starts. The department offers a walk-in immunization clinic each Monday. This week, more than a dozen incoming students attended the clinic. Nurse Megan Neville expects that to slow now that school has begun.
The department works closely with school nurses to make sure students and their families keep up-to-date on shots.
Kindergarten students typically receive four immunizations, usually done as two shots. Assuming they’re otherwise up-to-date on the recommended immunization schedule, they’ll receive shots for DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), Varicella (chicken pox) and IPV (polio).
Seventh-graders will receive a TDaP vaccine, which is required. Neville also recommends they receive vaccines to protect against meningitis and the HPV vaccine, which protects against some types of cancers later in life.
Students will need a meningitis vaccine before college, so it’s good to get one around age 11 or 12 with a second dose due at age 16, Neville said.
Parents typically follow those recommendations, Neville said, although some ask questions about the HPV vaccine. Compared to other vaccines, it’s still relatively new and parents may have misconceptions about who should receive the vaccine and when, she said. The vaccine protects against cancers caused by the human papilloma virus, which is transmitted during sexual contact. It’s recommended for all girls and boys starting at ages 11 or 12, but can be given to children as young as 9 or as old as 21 in men and 26 in women.
“People still have a bit of a stigma on HPV, but it’s a good vaccine to get,” Neville said.

 

Related
February 10, 2021
October 9, 2020
April 17, 2019
April 5, 2012