Back to School: Vaccination Requirements for SAISD Students

With school quickly approaching, registration for children has begun. But for registration to be completed, children need annual vaccinations. The most common grades that require new vaccinations include Pre-Kindergarten and seventh grade.

“Those are our big grades as far as coming in and needing immunizations in order to attend school,” said Melissa Schumpert with the San Angelo ISD.

Schumpert explained the type of shots children registering for Pre-K will need are a Varicella vaccine (chickenpox vaccine), DTap vaccine and a Polio vaccine. Children registering for seventh grade will need to receive a TDap vaccine, a Meningococcal vaccine and a Hepatitis A Vaccine. The Hepatitis A vaccine requirement was added by the state this year.

Schumpert added, “The other grades don’t necessarily have to have shot records because they are all up to date. Unless, they [the students] have had vaccines or something like that over the summer; then we ask them to bring them in so we can have our records updated as well.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated on its website, “Making sure that children receive all their vaccinations on time is one of the most important things you can do as a parent to ensure your children's long-term health—as well as the health of friends, classmates, and others in your community.”

In Texas, the CDC reports that there have been 99 travel-associated cases in Texas of the Zika Virus. So far, only Florida has had locally acquired cases. But, even though there have not been any cases of the Zika Virus locally acquired in Texas, the CDC and the San Angelo Health Department still stress for the community to protect themselves against mosquitos.

Marie Aguilar, Nurse manager at the San Angelo Health Department said, “We have not had a confirmed case here [in San Angelo of the Zika Virus]; but, whether we’re talking about Zika or West Nile, you always want to protect mosquito borne illnesses."

Even though the Zika Virus has not become an issue in San Angelo yet, the CDC and San Angelo ISD are not taking it likely.

“At this point, [San Angelo ISD] is working hard on guidelines that will be based on the recommendations from the CDC,” said Schumpert.