Childhood Immunization

April 20-27th, 2013 is National Infant Immunization Week. Talk to your child's peditrician to make sure your child is up-to-date on their immunizations. It could save their life!

2013 Immunization Clinic Schedule

Attention Parents: Please watch the following video Physicians urge parents to get children vaccinated

Vaccines are among the 20th century's most successful and cost-effective public health tools for preventing disease and death. Thanks to immunizations, diseases like polio that were once common, are now only distant memories for most Americans. Today, there are few visible reminders of the suffering, injuries, and deaths caused by diseases that are now prevented with vaccines. At present, there are vaccines available to protect children and adults against at least fifteen (15) life-threatening or crippling diseases. All college students attending school in New York State are required to be immunized against measles, mumps and rubella. It is also recommended that first year college students living in dormitories be immunized against meningitis

The New York State Department of Health Immunization Program's goal is to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases by making sure children and adults receive the vaccines they need. The program assures:

All children have access to vaccines
Health care providers are aware of immunization standards of practive
The latest recommendations on new vaccines are avaliable to providers
Providers and the public have up-to-date answers to vaccine questions

Vaccines For Children Program (VFC)

The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program was designed to improve vaccination coverage levels by providing vaccines at no cost to VFC-eligible children through public and private providers enrolled in the program. Categories of eligible children aged less than 19 years include:

Medicaid recipients (both fee-for-service and managed care)
Uninsured/Underinsured children (their insurance doesn't cover immunizations)
American Indians/Alaskan Natives

New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS)

The New York State Department of Health's Bureau of Immunization is committed to promoting the health of New York State children by reducing and/or eliminating the number of vaccine preventable diseases that affect the State's children. As part of this effort, the New York State legislature passed the Immunization Registry Law which, as of January 1, 2008, requires health care providers to report all immunizations administered to persons less than 19 years of age, along with the person's immunization histories, to the New York State Department of Health using the recently launched statewide web-based immunization information system. The goal of the new immunization information system is to establish a complete, accurate, secure, real-time immunization medical record that is easily accessible and promotes public health by fully immunizing all individuals appropriate to age and risk.

Up-to-date information on a child's vaccination history helps to prevent over-immunization. Schools will be able to save time in complying with safety and health regulations. Public health systems use the information to control vaccine preventable diseases.

Locating Immunization Records

Parents should keep track of their child's vaccination history. The only records that exist are the ones provided to parents when the vaccination is administered, and the ones in the medical record of the doctor and/or clinic where the vaccines are given. Sometimes schools hold the vaccination records for a year or two. New York State law requires that schools keep individual immunization records 6 years, or 3 years after the individual reaches age 18, whichever is longer.