Mary Alice Reporting – School vaccinations were the topic of an Ohio Department of Health press conference.
All states have requirements when it comes to inoculations ahead of a school term with the immunization program seeking to prevent diseases.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff held a press conference on the back-to-school health topic and noted that, for Ohio, there are 10 required vaccines.
“Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, which is also known as whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps and rubella, hepatitis B, varicella, which you may know as chickenpox, and meningitis.”
The past few years there was a decline in child vaccinations and a big cause, said Vanderhoff, was due to routine disruptions caused by the pandemic. He did report that, in the 2022-23 school year, kindergarten inoculations increased.
“The fact remains that nearly ten percent of all of Ohio kindergarteners, that’s more than 12,000 children, were missing at least one required dose or had no immunization record on file during the past school year. This puts too many kids at risk.”
Appointments for youth to receive a required vaccination can be done through a primary doctor or by contacting the Tuscarawas County Health Department. Different vaccines are given various ages and more information can be found at www.cdc.gov/vaccines.
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