Parents urged to update children's immunizations

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials have reminded parents and guardians to make certain their children have had all the immunizations required for their age group before they return to school this year or are enrolled in preschool or school for the first time.

Dennis Ellis, executive director of the Department of Public Health and Environment, said, “Parents will help give their children a healthy start to the new school year by making certain they are up to date on their immunizations.”

He explained that immunizations prevent children from getting serious infectious diseases, such as whooping cough and the measles, and encouraged parents to schedule an appointment with their health care providers to have their children immunized.

For individuals who do not have health insurance and who want to have their children immunized, they can call the department’s Family Healthline to obtain a list of public health clinics offering free and low-cost immunizations. The number for individuals living in the Denver metropolitan area is (303) 692-2229, and for outside the metropolitan Denver area, the number is 1 (800) 688-7777.

A Web site also is available and contains clinic locations and an immunization schedule that parents can download and take with them to their doctor’s office. The schedule helps track a child’s immunizations. The Web site address is <www.immunizecoloradoskids.com>

The Web site is a part of Colorado’s ongoing immunization marketing campaign, Immunize Colorado’s Kids—Protect the Ones You Love.

It is recommended that Colorado children have immunizations to protect them from 13 childhood diseases by the time they enter kindergarten or first grade. These include vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough (DTaP), haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, measles, mumps, pneumococcal disease or pneumonia, polio, rubella and varicella or chickenpox.
Immunizations specified for the child's age are required for enrollment at a childcare center, beginning at two months of age, in addition being required for beginning school.
The requirements include:

• Chickenpox (Varicella): The requirement for this vaccine, which first became mandatory in Colorado on July 1, 2000, is being gradually phased in, although health officials recommend that the vaccine be administered to all children and youth up to the age of 18 who have not had the disease. However, one immunization for chickenpox currently is required for school entry through sixth grade.

• Diphtheria/ Tetanus/ Pertussis: In general, a total of five doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) (DTaP) vaccine are required for students entering a Colorado school for the first time. The number of doses may vary, however, depending upon the age at which the student received prior doses. The Colorado Board of Health reinstated the requirement for five doses of DTaP effective September 1, 2004. The requirement for the fourth and fifth doses of DTaP had been temporarily suspended in April 2001 because of a shortage of the vaccine. During the 2005-2006 school year, children who missed previous doses of DTaP should receive their "catch up" doses to ensure they are fully protected. The national supply of DTaP now is adequate to administer all five doses to children as they become due. Children who are 7 years of age or older no longer receive DTaP. They instead receive Tdap/Td if they need to complete the requirement for tetanus and diphtheria.

• Hepatitis B: A total of three doses of this vaccine are required for preschool and all grades.

• Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib): This vaccine is a preschool requirement for children 4 years of age or younger but is not required for children 5 years of age or older. One, two or three doses of this vaccine are required, depending on both the child's current age and the age when the vaccine was administered.

• Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR): In general, two doses of this vaccine are required for children in kindergarten through 12th grades. One dose is required for preschool children.

• Polio: In general, three doses of this vaccine are required for children in preschool. Grade school, middle school and high school students entering a Colorado school for the first time are required to have four doses of this vaccine. The exception to this rule would be if a child received his/her third polio vaccine at or after the age of 4.

Parents and guardians should be certain to take immunization records with them when enrolling a child in a Colorado school for the first time.

Joni Reynolds, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment’s Immunization Program, said that if a school determines that a child's immunizations are incomplete, parents have only 14 days after receiving notification from the school for their child to receive the first recommended immunization and to present to the school a written plan for completion of the remaining immunizations.

Reynolds said that Colorado law permits schools to suspend students until receiving proof that the immunization requirements have been completed or are in process or a parent has chosen to file a request for exemption. The state's schools are to deny admittance of students who do not present an immunization record at the beginning of school.

Under Colorado law, parents may choose to have their children exempted from immunization requirements for medical, religious or personal reasons. Exemption forms, which are required in lieu of the Certificate of Immunization for those parents who choose exemption, are on the reverse of the state's Certificate of Immunization and can be obtained from doctors' offices and at schools.

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