COUNTYWIDE : Officials Stress Need for Immunizations

State health officials have a message for parents: Preparing their young children for the first day of school requires more than buying them lunch boxes and new outfits. It also means having kids immunized against diseases.

State law requires that children receive nearly a dozen immunizations by age 5. Officials from the state Department of Health Services recommend that children be given many of those shots by age 2.

Children will not be admitted to schools, Head Start programs or child care centers if they have not been properly immunized, said Ken August, spokesman for the Department of Health Services.

By age 5, children are required to have five diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough shots;four polio shots; and at least one immunization for measles, mumps and rubella.

August credited the state’s strict immunization rules for preventing the spread of measles in schools during a recent nationwide measles epidemic.

“It’s really important that kids are immunized early,” he said, noting that some preventable childhood diseases are on the rise again in some parts of the country.

Immunization information can be obtained by contacting your doctor or calling a local public health clinic or hospital. Free or low-cost immunizations are usually available for low-income families.

Information: (800) 564 8448.