South Health District

Summer vacation is winding down and school will commence soon, but is your child completely ready to start school? Local public health officials encourage you to beat the rush and get vaccinations required for school age children now.

“Immunizations are the best way to fight vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Reomona Thomas, RN, Immunization Program Coordinator. “Our goal is more than to keep our children healthy, it’s also to protect them and those around them from vaccine-preventable diseases.”

Students born on or after January 1, 2002 and entering the seventh-grade need proof of an adolescent pertussis (whooping cough) booster and adolescent meningococcal vaccinations. Every child in a Georgia school system (kindergarten-12^th grade), attending a child care facility, or a student of any age entering a Georgia school for the first time is required by law to have a Georgia Immunization Certificate, Form 3231, and an Ear, Eye, Dental and Nutrition Screening, Form 3300.

Your local health department or your private provider can provide your child with their required forms and vaccinations.

Vaccines protect families, teens and children by preventing diseases. “They help avoid expensive therapies and hospitalization needed to treat infectious diseases like influenza and pneumococcal disease,” says Thomas. “They also reduce absences both at school and at work and decrease the spread of illness in the home, workplace and community.”

For more information, visit www.southhealthdistrict.com or call your local health department.