Necessary vaccinations for school available
Local parents who still need to get their school-aged children vaccinated for the upcoming school year are in luck.
Dr. Brian Donnelly, a pediatrician at Allegheny Health Network Pediatrics – Pediatric Alliance North Hills in Cranberry Township, said the immunizations students are required to receive before the school year are in ample supply and readily available for anyone who still needs them.
“There hasn't been any shortage of them nationwide,” Donnelly said. “Most offices know what to expect and usually have no problem getting them on short notice.”
When parents register their children for school, they submit their child's vaccination records. Schools will then tell parents which shots their student needs.“The schools require the series of Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis), they require the polio series and then two doses of measles, mumps and rubella and two of the chicken pox,” he said. “Three doses of Hepatitis B are also required by Pennsylvania schools.”Students who are entering seventh grade are required to receive one dose of Tdap and one dose of MCV (meningococcal conjugate vaccine), and students entering 12th grade are required to receive one dose of MCV.Dr. Christania Morganti, a pediatrician with the Butler Health System, said children can get these vaccines through their primary care physician, who often has plenty in supply.Morganti said a benefit to parents having their children vaccinated by their primary care physician is that the physician will already know the child's vaccination history.She also said that students who aren't covered by health insurance can get immunizations from the state at no cost.The state Department of Health provides detailed vaccination requirements online.
Children and adults are protected against the measles by a combination vaccine known as the MMR vaccine, which provides protection against measles, mumps and rubella.In Pennsylvania, the MMR vaccine is on the list of required immunizations for students.Children need two doses of the vaccine, according to the CDC's website. The CDC recommends that children receive their first dose when they are 12 to 15 months old and their second dose when they are between ages 4 and 6.Measles cases have been on the rise in recent years, however, and they skyrocketed in 2019. According to the CDC, as of August, there have been nearly 1,200 reported cases of measles this year in the United States, compared to less than 400 reported cases in all of 2018.“There have been more measles cases this year than in a long time,” Donnelly said.He said the trend to not vaccinate children has led to this recent outbreak of the measles virus.
The state Department of Health requires all students to be vaccinated and has specific requirements for students entering seventh grade and 12th grade. Some students may be exempt from vaccinations, however, for medical, religious, philosophical, moral or ethical reasons.Morganti said children may be exempt if they have had adverse reactions to certain vaccines in the past.However, most students in the area are vaccinated. Between 95 and 98 percent of students enrolled at Butler County schools were vaccinated during the 2017-18 academic year, according to state health department surveys, while only between 0.6 and 3.8 percent were exempt.According to the same report, no students in Butler County who were exempt from vaccinations were denied admission to school.While no students in the county were denied admission, this wasn't the case statewide. During the 2017-18 academic year, 193 students from 3,717 school districts in Pennsylvania were denied admission to school, according to the surveys.
