Hollister
– Hundreds of local children will start kindergarten for the
first time next week, but healthcare officials are urging parents
to ensure that they remember to send their kids to school with
something besides pencils and paper – proper immunization.
Hollister – Hundreds of local children will start kindergarten for the first time next week, but healthcare officials are urging parents to ensure that they remember to send their kids to school with something besides pencils and paper – proper immunization.
“It’s really important that children have all their shots before they go to school,” said Claudia Arnold, a registered nurse and the Department of Public Health’s immunization coordinator. “Because it will affect them all throughout their time in school.”
Children starting school next week should already be caught up on their immunizations, but parents can always make appointments to ensure that they are.
California law allows special exemptions for parents who would rather their kids not be immunized, but health officials recommend that all children who can be immunized are. Not only are children who miss immunizations at risk for preventable diseases, but they also could endanger classmates with special medical conditions like leukemia. These children cannot be immunized.
“Children already catch lots of colds and other illnesses that they pass around to each other,” said Casey Castillo, executive director of First 5 San Benito. “Immunizations are a way to prevent that from happening even more. … If children are sick and have to stay home all the time, they can’t learn.”
Children should start their immunizations when they are 2 months old and should immunize on time at 4 months, 6 months, 12 months and 16 months. These shots prevent against a slew of maladies including tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis, polio, measles and other highly contagious diseases.
This year the state added varicella to the list of diseases children should be immunized against before starting kindergarten. Varicella is more commonly known as chicken pox.
“We’ve been pushing for this for years,” Arnold said. “There can always be secondary complications from chicken pox, and those can lead to death.”
Parents still choose to not have their children immunized for a variety of personal reasons, however.
“I’ve met quite a few knowledgeable, well-educated people who simply didn’t want their children immunized because they didn’t want to deal with the side effects,” Castillo said. “But honestly, the vast majority of parents want their children immunized.”
It’s not uncommon for children to be anxious about visiting the doctor, and some already know that they hate needles. The best way to deal with this, experts say, is to make sure that you yourself are calm about the situation.
“If a parent already hates shots, they’re just going to have to fake it for their kids’ sake,” Arnold said. “Just say that you love going to the doctor, or your child might be freaked out by the time you actually get there.”
Distracting children while they’re being immunized is often a great way to lessen the trauma of getting shots, officials say. Having them blow into a noisemaker, wiggle their fingers while breathing or something similar often causes children to forget their anxiety.
“It’s just like a woman giving birth,” Arnold said. “You focus on your breathing and you don’t pay as much attention to the pain. Sometimes these kids are so focused on what they’re doing that the nurse can slide the vaccine in and be done before they even notice.”
And of course, having stickers around for brave boys and girls afterwards never hurts.
“We always make sure we have plenty,” Arnold said.
For more information on immunizations for children, adolescents or adults, call the Department of Public Health at 637-5367 or the San Benito Health Foundation at 637-5306.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
