24 Jul California Dept. of Public Health Recommends Vaccines for Students

(Heather Hazzan for Self Magazine, licensed under CC BY 2.0)

CC Pulse Staff Report

The California Department of Public Health this week recommended that families make sure their children’s vaccinations are up to date as the new school year approaches.

The urging on the part of the state agency comes ahead of National Immunization Month, which begins Aug. 1.

“When our youngest Californians are healthy and able to participate in learning and doing the things they love, the future of California is brighter,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Director and state public health officer, in a Tuesday press release. “As a parent and a pediatrician, I am grateful for and confident in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, which have transformed the leading causes of childhood deaths away from infectious diseases.”

She said her department is committed to ensuring that families have access to “safe and effective vaccines” and the information needed to understand that vaccine recommendations are based on solid science.

The state’s immunization rates for kindergarten students are higher the national average, a rate that Pan and the CDPH want to keep up. Large outbreaks of measles in other states have boosted the number of cases higher than any year since 2000, CDPH officials said. The year 2000 is when the World Health Organization declared that measles had been eliminated in the U.S. — thanks to vaccination programs.

This year more than 90% of measles cases reported were in unvaccinated individuals. Three people have died.

State officials say that there is more than 95% coverage among the state’s kindergarteners who have obtained the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The state has mandated the MMR vaccine for almost a decade to prevent the spread of those diseases.

More information on immunization laws is available at CDPH’s Shots for School and Don’t Wait – Vaccinate! webpages. Information about required vaccinations for students in California can be found there too. CDPH also sponsors a Vaccine Facts webpage. Information for families whose children are uninsured can be found at the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides no-cost vaccines for eligible children.