School is Starting ― Make Sure Your Young Child is Fully Vaccinated
With children heading back to school, now is a good time to ensure that your kids are fully immunized. Online tools and information from CDC make it easy for parents and doctors to keep current with childhood vaccinations.
Making sure that infants and young children receive all of their vaccinations on time is one of the most important things parents can do to ensure their children’s long-term health ― as well as the health of their friends and classmates. Not only do vaccines protect children against common seasonal diseases like influenza, they also help prevent much rarer diseases. Without vaccinations, the U.S. could see new epidemics of diseases. More children would get sick, and more would die.
Parents can find out what vaccines their children need and when the doses should be given by consulting the nationally recommended Childhood Immunization Schedules, available on the CDC Web site.
If a child falls behind schedule on vaccinations, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the best way to catch up. To help, CDC and its partners developed the Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler, a new online tool that shows parents and healthcare providers the best options for getting children six years of age and younger back on schedule.
This easy-to-use tool can be downloaded by parents or healthcare providers. Please note that the Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler can only be downloaded to computers with Microsoft® Office Professional.
August is National Immunization Awareness Month
Immunization is one of modern medicine's most significant public health achievements. Vaccines have eradicated smallpox, eliminated wild poliovirus in the U.S., and significantly reduced the number of cases of measles, diphtheria, rubella, pertussis and other diseases. But despite these efforts, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. still die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year.
National Immunization Awareness Month reminds us that immunizations are important for people of all ages, from infants to the elderly. August is the perfect time to remind family, friends, co-workers, and others to talk with their doctors to make sure they’re up-to-date on their vaccinations. Information is available on preteen, adolescent, and adult immunization.
More Information
- 2008 Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedules
- Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler
- Receive e-mail updates on the Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler (to ensure you have the latest version)
- Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunization (detailed information on vaccines and immunization)
- Vaccine Safety Information for Parents
