D.C. leaders are urging families to make sure their kids are caught up on back-to-school vaccines, or they’ll risk missing class until they are.
About 85% of students across the city are in compliance with the requirements, according to D.C. Health Director Ayanna Bennett. But those who aren鈥檛 will be 鈥渢emporarily excluded鈥� from school starting Dec. 8, which is the scheduled deadline.
The step is particularly critical for students in Pre-K3, kindergarten, seventh and 11th grades, Bennett said. Those are ages at which kids are due for booster shots.
鈥淚f you get contact with one of these dangerous bacteria or viruses, kids have to be excluded from school for a lot longer than just a few days to get a vaccine appointment,鈥� Bennett said. 鈥淭his is the way we keep all of our kids in the classroom and keep them healthy and out of the hospital.鈥�
Students who haven鈥檛 received their vaccines can either visit their own doctor or show an appointment card indicating there鈥檚 an appointment scheduled but they haven鈥檛 been able to get in yet.
on Georgia Avenue is offering walk-in vaccinations Friday, Monday and Tuesday, Bennett said, and vaccinations will also be offered at Saturday鈥檚 .
is also offering back-to-school vaccines, Bennett said.
Typically, the city starts to 鈥渃atch up a lot in the next week or so, and the kids who haven鈥檛 caught up then catch up very quickly after the exclusion date. We鈥檙e feeling pretty good about the number as it stands right now,鈥� Bennett said.
In most cases, families of students who aren鈥檛 caught up are notified, and if there鈥檚 no action, 鈥渢hey鈥檒l come to school and be told that they actually can鈥檛 be in school that day,鈥� she added.
Broadly, the city has been making progress, Bennett said. Four years ago, 79% of kindergartners had received the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. Last year, 93% of kindergartners got it.
鈥淰accines are one of the most stable, reliable and effective parts of our public health system,鈥� Bennett said. 鈥淭here really has been little change in the schedule and very little true controversy around it for a really long time. People can depend on the physicians that they know and the community places that they are familiar with to tell them what they need; and then if they get those vaccinations, we can have a community that doesn’t have vulnerability to outbreaks, like the current measles outbreaks happening across the country.鈥�
The Docket app online at can help parents figure out which vaccine their child needs, Bennett said.
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