CONTACT: Jeanene Fowler, Public Health: 602-722-1806 (cell)
Backpacks, Pencils and Back-To-School Immunizations
Maricopa County Public Health & Community Partners
Release Listing of County-wide Clinics
Phoenix (July 15, 2009) – Add vaccinations to the top of your child’s back-to-school checklist this summer. A list of over 24 Valley-wide locations providing back-to-school immunizations is now posted at www.WeArePublicHealth.org.
Maricopa County joins with community partners from around the Valley to ensure there are ample shot locations for the large numbers of kids that need to be vaccinated.
“School vaccines are one of the oldest tools we have in public health to prevent disease,” said Dr. Bob England, Maricopa County’s public health director. ”When all kids are up to date on their shots, we are actually preventing diseases like meningitis and pertussis can’t jump from person to person.”
Last year was the first year to require that all students entering the 6th and 7th grades, 11 years and older, receive Meningococcal and TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) vaccinations if they have not done so within the last five years.
The required vaccinations for children aged 18 and under protect against meningitis, whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria and tetanus. Below is a list of available vaccines.
Vaccines for adolescents
• Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Acellular Pertussis)
• Menactra
• HPV (Human Papillomavirus)
Vaccines for all children
• DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Acellular Pertussis)
• Polio
• MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)
• Varicella
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Hib (Haemophilus influenza type B)
• Prevnar
• Rotovirus
Vaccinations will be available at no cost to parents to ensure that even those without health insurance are protected before school begins.
All immunization records, including those from other states or countries, must be brought to the immunization site. For any questions, please call our Public Health Nursing Line at 602-506-6767.
Locations, dates and hours of the clinics open now through September can be found on our site at: http://www.maricopa.gov/Public_Health/PubDocuments/ImmunizationCalendar.pdf.
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