As families prepare supplies and routines for the school year to begin, parents should also check their children’s immunization records and requirements. Washington County Public Health Nurse Lynn Fisher says herd immunity can help students who are unable to be vaccinated against certain diseases, “There might be a student who is undergoing chemotherapy or has immune disorder that they can receive vaccines. So having all of the other students immunized protects that student, because all those other students will not get the disease. And so the student is sort of cocooned in protection. The disease is not going to get a foothold in that classroom, because everyone is immunized, so it protects.”

In the State of Iowa there are requirements for students entering different grade levels. Kindergarteners need the five Dtap vaccine, four doses of polio, three doses of hepatitis B, two of measles mumps rubella, and two for chicken pox. All seventh grade students are required to have a Tdap vaccine as well as meningitis. High school seniors also need the meningitis immunization booster shot, and meningitis B is recommended.