Dee Anna Reynolds, DeKalb County School Health Coordinator, has issued a reminder to parents to make sure your children have their required immunizations up to date.
Speaking during the school board meeting Thursday night, Reynolds said ” for the parents and guardians regarding immunizations for next year, any student who will be entering seventh grade next year will have to be current on their DTP vaccinations. That’s the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. They will also need proof of varicella immunity. That’s the chickenpox. There’s four ways they can do that: date of birth before 1980, which that’s not going to be any of our seventh graders; history of chickenpox illness diagnosed by a healthcare provider; documentation of two doses of varicella; vaccine given at least twenty eight days apart, excluding doses given earlier than four days before their first birthday; or documentation of a blood test if they do not have doctor documentation,” said Reynolds.
“For our high school seniors who are entering colleges or universities this year, they are also going to need proof of that varicella immunity (those same four ways); their second dose of MMR which is the measles, mumps, and rubella; and they may also need an additional tetanus depending upon when they did get their DTP,” said Reynolds.
“I’d like to also remind parents to keep their children up to date on immunizations because we do check those each year a few weeks after school starts up. Those must be on the correct form. Those can be obtained from the health department, the Tennessee Department of Health, or private physicians. If you have questions about immunizations you can learn more on the Tennessee Department of Health website,” added Reynolds.
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