It’s August, which means that in addition to Colorado’s monsoon rains and flash floods, bins of school supplies are flooding the aisles of retail super centers and neighborhood grocers. The return to the classroom is an important time to remind parents to ensure their children are up to date on immunizations. After all, students, staff, and school faculty deserve a healthy environment – one that fosters well-being and supports learning. Vaccines are essential to the health of students! But getting kids on track for disease prevention with immunity starts well before kids hit the classroom; it starts at birth. Beyond childhood, it’s safe to say a majority of us would like to maintain our health well into our later years. No matter the life stage, vaccines are an essential component to a healthy life.
It’s appropriate then that in addition to back to school season, August is also National Immunization Awareness Month, or NIAM. NIAM is an observance that highlights the importance of immunization throughout the lifespan. Today’s Team Vaccine post looks at Colorado’s vaccine requirements for school attendance and why they’re essential in safeguarding students, along with how vaccines are a necessary tool to ensure our health from infancy and beyond.
Vaccination is the smart and healthy way to prevent and stop the spread of dangerous diseases and the law for students.
Children’s immune systems – especially those of young children – are not fully developed. This means kids are more likely to catch and spread illness. Combined with that, schools are an opportune environment for the transmission of dangerous diseases; kids are in close contact, share objects regularly, and don’t always remember to cover coughs and sneezes. And because diseases like measles can spread rapidly, we need adequate vaccine uptake in schools. It’s also true that immunizations do more than protect the individuals who get them. They also prevent the spread of diseases to others. This includes people who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons, may be too young to receive certain vaccines, or are immunocompromised.
Colorado, like all other states, requires students attending schools and licensed child cares to be vaccinated against certain diseases.
Child care-required vaccines include:
- Hepatitis B (HepB)
- Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP)
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
- Inactivated poliovirus (IPV)
- Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV)
- Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
- Varicella (chickenpox)
K-12 school-required vaccines include:
- Hepatitis B (HepB)
- Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP)
- Inactivated poliovirus (IPV)
- Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
- Varicella (chickenpox)
- Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap)
Note that the final dose of DTaP, IPV, MMR, and Varicella must be administered prior to kindergarten entry and Tdap must be administered prior to 6th grade entry. A single dose of Tdap is required for all 6th-12th grade students.
Additionally, college and university students in Colorado are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), and those living in student housing must have received a meningococcal ACWY vaccine within the 5 years prior to attendance.
While Colorado does have the option for parents to obtain exemptions to vaccinations, it is important to note that immunization rates are down both in Colorado and nationally and vaccine exemptions are up. This leaves our kids and our communities vulnerable to the diseases that vaccines prevent. We need robust immunization coverage to keep everyone safe!
Outside the school environment, vaccines offer protection from birth throughout the lifespan.
There’s a saying in the immunization advocacy world: “Vaccines create adults.” Data supports this. The CDC estimates that for children born between 1994 and 2023, vaccines will prevent more than 500 million illnesses and more than 1 million deaths. While vaccines offer robust protection, the diseases they prevent haven’t gone anywhere. We can only ensure protection from them by maintaining widespread immunity through continued vaccination in every stage of life.
Childhood vaccinations: During infancy and through the early childhood years, children are most vulnerable to disease. Their immune systems are not fully developed and therefore not always strong enough to fight off diseases. They are, however, well-equipped to respond to multiple vaccines. The CDC’s routine childhood immunization schedule is determined by a panel of infectious disease experts. The schedule is designed to give children vaccines when their immune systems will best respond to them and before children are most likely to encounter disease. The schedule offers the greatest protection possible from 18 different diseases. Note that the list of Colorado school-required vaccines does not include all the vaccines on the CDC’s schedule. To be fully protected, your child will also need immunizations for flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rotavirus, hepatitis A, human papillomavirus (HPV), and COVID-19.
Adolescent vaccinations: Immunizations are also necessary in the tween and teen years. At this age, immunity from some early childhood vaccines wears off and the risk of other infections increases. Vaccines at this age can even help protect fertility. Starting around age 11, adolescents will need the Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. This is also the age when their immune systems are most responsive to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine, which protects against 6 types of cancer that could emerge later in life. (Note that kids can receive the HPV vaccine as early as age 9.) Also at age 11-12, they will need protection from meningococcal disease types ACW and Y with a MenACWY vaccine; they’ll need a booster at age 16. Also at age 16, teens should get the meningitis B vaccine, MenB. These vaccines protect against meningococcal disease which, while rare, can be deadly within hours. It’s also important for adolescents to stay up to date with the latest COVID-19 vaccines and receive an annual flu shot.
Adult vaccinations: Many people don’t realize it, but it’s important for adults to continue to get vaccinated, too. As we age, our immune systems naturally begin to decline and lose some of the strength and immunity they built in our younger years. Older adults are at increased risk of severe illness, making up a majority of hospitalizations and deaths from most vaccine-preventable diseases. Couple this with preexisting conditions like heart disease or diabetes and the risk is even greater. This is especially true for diseases like COVID-19, flu, and RSV. In addition to getting vaccines for those three diseases, adults should be vaccinated for pneumonia, hepatitis B, and shingles. Depending on vaccine history, age, and other risk factors, adults should also ask about vaccinations for mpox, varicella, HPV, hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, and haemophilus influenzae type B. All adults should receive a Tdap booster every ten years to protect against tetanus, pertussis, and diphtheria.
In the school setting and throughout our entire lives, vaccines are imperative to protect both individual and community health! This National Immunization Awareness Month, as we share the importance of immunization, we urge you to check with your medical provider and ensure that you and your loved ones are up to date with recommended routine vaccines. This way, you’ll not only protect yourself, but everyone around you.
Immunize Colorado was formed in 1991 in response to alarmingly low vaccination rates across the state. At the time, only about 50% of Colorado’s children were adequately vaccinated. A group of physicians and other concerned individuals came together to strategize how to protect Coloradans from vaccine-preventable diseases and increase vaccine uptake. Much work remains. Discover ways to support our commitment to healthy Colorado communities at our website or make a donation today!