Importance of Updating Children’s Vaccinations: A Guide for the New School Year

Do you know if your children’s vaccinations are up to date? Well, there is time to consult the pediatrician, before the new school year begins.

Although vaccines are not for going to school, but to protect us at all stages of life, the Puerto Rico Immunization Law indicates them as a requirement to be within the school and university community, explained Dr. Natalia Gómez, director Management of vaccines and clinical affairs of the VOCES organization. Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, and when all schools returned to normal, Gómez called on families to complete the series of vaccinations that correspond to their children.

The specialist explained that, as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nearly 40 million children were susceptible to measles because they had not completed their vaccine series. In Puerto Rico, there has been a reduction of between 20 and 30% in the series of primary vaccinations (0-5 years of life), said Gómez.

“Most of those vaccines occur in series of two or three doses and some parents have not completed them. So these children are left unprotected for this disease, ”he explained. The CDC indicates that vaccines can prevent 14 diseases, including diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, mumps, rubella, measles, hepatitis A and B, and polio. Vaccines are also indicated for adolescents and young people to prevent the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes various types of cancer.

“We always talk about a school requirement, but it really is a public health measure,” said Gómez. Each vaccine has a collective immunity of between 80% and 90%. If the population has that series completed, it will also protect those who have immunocompromised conditions and cannot be vaccinated, she indicated.

Gómez pointed out that, starting in July, it will have spaces for families to manage the green sheet required by schools and university institutions. He recommended that they consult the available vaccination centers and the itinerary of VOCES activities at dondemevacuno.com and through the Department of Health in vacunatepr.com.

Do not forget the reinforcements against COVID and influenza

The galena recalled that the CDC maintains the reinforcement doses against COVID-19 from 6 months of age.

“The vaccine that we have available is the bivalent one, both for those who have never received it and for those who receive booster doses,” he said. Likewise, the recommendation is that, to combat influenza, the general population should start vaccinating from the month of August.

2023-07-01 07:00:00
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