Get Kids Vaccinated Before Returning To School

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Along with purchasing pencils, notebooks and crayons, back-to-school season also means time for vaccinations.

While getting shots is certainly not as exciting for kids as a new backpack or lunch box, it's equally as important.  Plus, vaccinations protect more than just the child getting the shot.

"It takes a village to take care of a child, but it also takes a village to keep a child safe," said Dr. Bill Pomputius, medical director of the infectious disease division of Children's Hospitals.

He said vaccines have become so successful that people often forget how awful the diseases they prevent really are.

"We must hang on to what we call 'community immunity'.  Which, if many people decide to not vaccinate, we will lose and we will all suffer as a whole," said Dr. Pomputius.

And sometimes we don't even know we are infected.

"You may not have very significant symptoms at all and be overlooked. So we're actually protecting not only that middle schooler, but we're protecting that middle schooler's brothers and sisters and whoever else comes in contact with them," he said .

Dr. Pomputious adds that it's also important to remember, recommended vaccinations do not end once a child hits kindergarten. There are boosters needed for adolescents though adults.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO's Samantha Smith Reports