Do you have a little one about to start kindergarten this September? Or do you have clients who do? If so, it’s important to make sure that their vaccinations are up-to-date before school starts.
Your child is exposed to germs every day. Germs can spread easily in crowded places like the classroom and playground. All children, starting at age four, should receive two free kindergarten booster vaccines:
- Tdap-IPV – protects against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio
- Chicken pox (varicella)
Before the chicken pox vaccine was included in the free childhood immunization program in BC, Esther Sigurdson’s five year old daughter got chicken pox. “She had a high fever, was crying in pain and had sores on her scalp and in her ears,” Esther said. “She passed it on to our three month old and my husband, who had to take a month off of work. And he passed it on to his 65 year old coworker who was undergoing prostate cancer treatment. Now, in my role as a public health nurse at Raven Song Community Health Centre, I sometimes come across families that think that chicken pox is a benign childhood disease. I explain to them how serious the disease can be and how easily it spreads.”
While most of these infections are now rare in BC because of routine childhood vaccination programs, the recent whooping cough outbreak (also known as pertussis) in Vancouver Coastal and the Fraser Health regions last fall is a reminder that these diseases are still in our communities and can spread quickly among those who are unprotected. Vaccines are safe: it is much safer to get the vaccine than to get the disease.
The free shots can be obtained from family doctors or from public health nurses at VCH Community Health Centres. An immunization visit is a great way to catch up on other shots that might have been missed as part of a child’s infant vaccination series.