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| YOUR TOWN: Caroline | Culpeper | King George | Fredericksburg | Orange | Spotsylvania | Stafford | Westmoreland | |
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Sixth-graders need shots before school
A required vaccination for rising sixth-graders is part of a growing number of vaccines aimed at 'tweens'
Date published: 8/18/2007
BY JIM HALL The nurses at Spotsylvania County's middle schools have checked student records this summer to see if sixth-graders have had their Tdap shots. In Stafford County, school officials have talked Tdap since spring. They sent letters home, placed notices in report cards and spoke about it at middle school orientation sessions. The message to parents from school systems throughout the region this summer has been that, as far as Tdap is concerned, this school year will be different than last. Last year was the first time rising sixth-graders had to have the tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis booster for school entry. Because the state law was new, school and health officials offered parents a 90-day grace period. This year school officials such as Patricia Smith, director of health services for Spotsylvania schools, and Kathy Whitby, school nurse manager in Stafford, have told parents there won't be a grace period. With few exceptions, new sixth-graders will have to have the shot by the time school starts. About 4,500 Fredericksburg-area children are affected by the Tdap requirement. These children had a similar vaccine, the DPT shot, before entering kindergarten. "Same ingredients, but it's been reformulated for teenagers or adults," said Dr. Mercedes Payne, a Fredericksburg family practitioner. Health officials added the required booster when pertussis cases started to rise nationwide. "The baby shots are not providing long enough immunization," Payne said. The Tdap is among several shots aimed at young adolescents. Sylvia Newport, immunization coordinator for the Rappahannock Area Health District, calls them the "tween vaccines." Newport includes in this group the hepatitis B shot, which was added to the required school-entry shots in 2001; the new HPV vaccine recommended for adolescent girls; and the meningitis vaccine. Most Virginia colleges require incoming freshmen to have the meningitis, or meningococcal, vaccine. And this month the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the group for whom the shot is recommended to include all children and adolescents, ages 11 to 18. "The incidence of meningococcal disease increases during adolescence," the CDC said. Newport said the push to vaccinate adolescents and pre-adolescents is the result of improvements in vaccines and changes to the nation's health system after the Sept. 11 attacks. Many local health districts, including those in Virginia, now have epidemiologists, or disease trackers, she said. Officials have a better idea of what diseases are prevalent and what age groups are affected. "Reporting has gotten much better," Newport said. Payne said she recommends that adolescents get one additional back-to-school shot: a flu shot. "It's not required for school, but it does help," she said. Jim Hall: 540/374-5433Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 8/18/2007
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