Get your child's back-to-school immunizations for free
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Houston Children's Museum will offer free vaccinations today.
The free vaccination drive will be offered to the the first 150 students.
State health records show a general decrease in the amount of children who are completely vaccinated before heading back to school this year.
"Sometimes we have kids that fall through the cracks. They think that they are fully immunized and they are not," said physicians assistant Teresa Harris with Memorial Hermann's Centers for Schools program.
State records show kindergarten kids are being vaccinated less in all but one vaccine category as compared to vaccination rates from last year. The vaccine seeing the biggest fall is Varicella, or the chicken pox vaccine. A state health representative said the decrease may be due to the fact that more kids contracted chicken pox, therefore a vaccine was not needed.
For seventh grade students, state health vaccine records show a fall in the percentage of students who received the T-DAP booster, often forgotten by students and parents. Also, an decrease was shown in the number of seventh grade students who received the meningococcal vaccination, a relatively newer immunization requirement.
Here is Texas' list of Immunization Requirements for Schools.
Free vaccinations are being given all around Houston in the month leading up to the start of school. Select Memorial Hermann clinics are giving away tens of thousands of vaccines year round. Other clinics and mobile vaccine drives are doing the same thing right now.
Health officials say there is no excuse to not vaccinate your student. Doctors urge for parents to take advantage of the free vaccination services.
"That's one of the best things that you can do in order to prevent illness. If you are not sure, call your pediatrician's office and make sure that they are all caught up on their routine vaccinations," said Dr. Katherine Lusk.
Here is a list of free vaccination locations by the Harris County Health Department.
