Elementary schools to offer Tdap vaccinations

(CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Nurses at Madison elementary schools are helping students who must have Tdap vaccinations.

The state of Alabama requires students, 11 years old and older, entering sixth grade this fall to have Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccine.

To ease the process, each elementary school is offering an optional clinic for the vaccinations.

“The idea behind the clinic is to save time and effort for the parents,” Bonnie Davis said. Davis works as health services/school system nurse for Madison City Schools. “There is no out-of-pocket cost, but a small administration fee may be billed to the insurance.”

School nurses have sent home consent forms with students. Only students who need the Tdap vaccine received a form.

“If the parent has not completed the consent form, the student will not receive the vaccine,” Davis said. “It is imperative that the form be completed, signed and returned to school no later than Monday, April 14 for your student to participate in the clinic.”

Employees with Madison County Health Department will administer the Tdap immunization to students on April 16-17, using this schedule for elementary schools:

* April 16 — Rainbow, first; Mill Creek, second; West Madison, third; and Madison, fourth.

* April 17 — Horizon, first; Heritage, second; and Columbia, third.

“The health department will start both days between 8:15 to 8:30 a.m. Once they finish vaccinating students at one school, they will move to the next. Except for the first school, there’s no set time to show up at the next school,” Davis said.

After students receive vaccinations, the information will be recorded in the Alabama State immunization database (ImmPRINT), which a child’s physician can access.

In certain cases, the health department can grant a “religious exemption from all vaccines,” Davis said. Also, a few students have “medical exemptions” from physicians. An example is “a reaction to the vaccine or having a medical condition, like cancer, causing a poor immune system.”

Alabama requires Tdap to boost immunity of Pertussis, which was never eliminated from the United States.