New Immunization Requirement for Rising 6th graders!

Students entering the 6th grade during the 2008-2009 school year are now required to receive a booster dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccine. This is because of an increase in Pertussis (whooping cough) cases across our country. Please call your health department for an appointment or make an appointment with your health care provider to receive this vaccine. The Tdap vaccine is free at Nash County Health Department. Send proof of this immunization update with your child on the first day of school. Check out the links below for more information about the new vaccine requirement or about Tdap!

• New Immunization Requirement for 6th grade Entry
• Nuevo requierminento de vacunación para ingresar al 6° grado escolar

Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule

• Click here to view the Immunization Schedule (PDF)
• Print a personalized Immunization Schedule for your child
• Dispelling Immunization Myths (PDF)
• The Case for Childhood Immunization (PDF)
• Click here for Adult Immunizations

Immunizations prevent the spread of communicable diseases including polio, varicella, measles, mumps, rubella, Hib, hepatitis B, tetanus, diptheria, whooping cough, and flu. At Nash County Health Department, we offer:

• Free childhood immunizations, available by appointment
• Adult immunizations (flu, pneumonia, and tetanus)
• Hepatitis B vaccine for teens up to age 19

Did you know that:

• Influenza and pneumonia combined are the fifth leading cause of death in older Americans.
• Before vaccines, many children died from diseases that vaccines now prevent, such as whooping cough, measles, and polio.
• Children need immunizations against 11 diseases by their second birthday.
• In the United Stated, about 80,000 new hepatitis B cases are reported each year.
• About 100 people DIE each year in the United States as a result of chickenpox!
• Before the Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, the disease was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain) among children under five years old in the United States.
• In 1945, 175,000 cases of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) were reported each year. Between 1980-1990, after immunization against this disease began, less than 3,000 cases were reported in the United States.

North Carolina law requires that babies begin an immunization series at birth. They need vaccinations at 2, 4, 6, 12, and 15 months of age, and then before they start school. Immunizations protect against hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae b, measles, mumps, rubella, and chicken pox. Public health nurses are working cooperatively with area schools to "catch up" 6th graders who missed hepatitis B shots as babies and to update their tetanus and measles protection if needed.

Adults need a tetanus update every ten years. Residents who are over 65, who have chronic illnesses, or who just want to protect themselves from the flu, should get a flu vaccination every year and residents over 65 should get one pneumonia shot, which should protect them for life.

"Sometimes parents ask questions about immunization safety but vaccines go through years of testing before the Food and Drug Administration approves licensure," says Bill Hill, Health Director with Nash County Health Department. "All recommended vaccines are completely safe with common side effects limited to pain and soreness at the infection location and a low-grade fever. And vaccines work; occurrences of diseases like measles, mumps, German measles, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis have reduced dramatically since the introduction of the each of these vaccines. Most recently the introduction of the Hib vaccine in 1990 reduced the number of bacterial meningitis cases each year from 15,000 to 50."

Hill stated, as well, that people regularly delay childhood vaccinations because of schedule conflicts or because the child has a cold. "The vaccination schedule is as it is to provide maximum protection to an infant whose immune system is still developing. Vaccines should be given on time whenever possible," said Hill.

For more information about vaccines or to make appointments call Nash County Health Department (252) 459-9819 or (252) 446-0027 or your physician.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccines and Immunizations 

Foreign Travel Vaccinations