For Immediate Release:
August 3, 2005

Contact:
Brian Quinn
Office of Public Information
573-751-6062

Parents Encouraged to Immunize Missouri's Children for the Coming School Year

School is starting soon, and parents should prepare by checking their children's immunization records to make sure they are up to date. “This year, Missouri joins 39 other states in requiring chickenpox (varicella) vaccination for kindergartners,” said Julia M. Eckstein, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

College freshman, especially those who are planning to live in dormitories, should also check their immunization records and consider getting the meningococcal vaccine, which protects them from four types of meningitis. In the U.S., 1,400–2,800 cases of invasive meningococcal disease occur annually. Among those cases, 10 percent to 14 percent die, and 11 percent to 19 percent of survivors suffer serious complications, including deafness, neurological disorders, or loss of limbs. College freshmen living in dormitories have a slightly higher risk of contracting the disease that the rest of the population.

Missouri's children are better protected from a host of diseases that can be prevented by vaccines than they have ever been, according to the 2004 National Immunization Survey, which is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At 81.6 percent, Missouri is above the national average of 80.9 percent in the number of two-year-olds who have received four DTaP shots (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis or whooping cough), three polio, one MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), three Haemophilus influenzae type b, and three hepatitis B. Schools report 98 percent of Missouri's school age children are appropriately vaccinated.

“The continued efforts of private physicians and local health departments have dramatically improved our immunization coverage during the last decade,” said Eckstein. “Before vaccines, millions of Americans each year developed these diseases, thousands died, and many more suffered permanent disability. Safe and effective vaccines have dramatically reduced the number of cases.”

However, many diseases, such as measles, mumps, and rubella, are still prevalent in other countries. Unvaccinated people from the U.S. and other countries can contract those diseases and bring them back to this country.

The number of reported cases of pertussis has been increasing in Missouri and the nation since the early 1990s. People can receive the best protection from these diseases if they are appropriately vaccinated early in life.

Children and adults can receive immunizations from their physicians or from their local public health agencies. The cost of immunizations is usually covered by private insurance or other programs.

If you would like more information on immunizations, please call your local health department or the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services at 573-751-6439, or go to the DHSS web site at www.dhss.mo.gov/Immunizations.