As the new school year begins, Delaware’s Division of Public Health is reminding First State residents to make sure they are up-to-date on all recommended vaccinations.
DPH wants adults to make sure they’re up-to-date on their vaccinations, and wants parents and caregivers to talk to their doctor and be sure their school-aged children are up to date as well.
“For us it’s an annual observance that we do every year and it’s done nationwide and it’s to help to highlight the importance of vaccinations for people of all ages," said Jim Talbot, the director for DPH's Immunization Program. "Communities across the country use this month each year to raise awareness about the important role vaccines play in preventing serious, sometimes deadly, diseases across the lifespan.”
Talbot says the program performs a school immunization survey each year to assess the vaccination coverage for children attending school in Delaware. The 2017 survey found the First State had a 96-percent or better completion rate for the major vaccinations.
- Coverage of four doses of Polio vaccine: 97.2 percent
- Three doses of hepatitis B vaccine: 97.8 percent
- Two doses of measles, mumps, rubella vaccine: 96.4 percent
- One dose of Varicella vaccine: 96.2 percent
- Four or more doses of diphtheria, tetanus and peretussus vaccine: 97.1 percent
Talbot says today’s childhood vaccines protect against serious and potentially life-threatening diseases, including meningitis, mumps, polio and chickenpox, as well as HPV, which can lead to cancer.
Parents can find out more about the recommended immunization schedule here. And for more information on the DPH Immunization Program, visit here.
