Kindergartners require more shots

Chickenpox, hepatitis A added to list

Mon, July 22, 2002

By CATHY McKITRICK
Standard-Examiner staff

OGDEN -- A recent change in Utah"s school rules beefs up the current arsenal of required immunizations for children entering kindergarten this fall, with the addition of two more vaccines.

Along with the previously required immunizations, which included five doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP), four doses of polio, two doses of measles, mumps and rubella, and three doses of hepatitis B, children must now also get one shot for chickenpox and two shots, six months apart, for hepatitis A.

A 10-year average, taken between 1987-1997, identified Utah as one of 11 high-risk states, with hepatitis A rates at nearly twice the national average.

Hepatitis A is spread by person-to-person contact or by intake of contaminated food or water, and common symptoms include sudden onset of fever, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine and jaundice. But children under the age of 6 can be infected and not show any symptoms, making the disease easy to transmit.

Claudia Price, nursing director at the Weber-Morgan Health Department, said that Utah"s higher incidence of hepatitis A is probably due to its very young population.

"People don"t know their preschoolers have the disease, and the children are not as apt to wash their hands, so they"re more likely to spread it," Price said. "They"re like the reservoir for the disease."

But the hepatitis A vaccine, approved in 1995, provides 100 percent protection against the disease for 20 years, Price said.

The Weber-Morgan Health Department has been offering the hepatitis A shots for the past three years, targeting the preschool population.

Although most people recover fully from hepatitis A without problems, Price said that people can be very sick for about six weeks and adults can miss a lot of work because of it.

Most local clinics have also been online for a few years with the chickenpox vaccination, usually administered when children are 12 months old. Prior to the licensing of the vaccine in the United States in 1995, an estimated 4 million cases occurred each year, 90 percent of them in children.

Chickenpox is characterized by fever, itching and a generalized rash.

For children who have already had chickenpox by the time they enter school, Utah law allows parents to sign their immunization records, documenting that their children are immune and do not need the vaccine.

A change regarding the exemption process also went into effect on July 1. People who wish to be exempt from immunizations on the basis of religious or personal reasons must pick up a standard form at their local health department. Those who are exempt due to medical reasons can get a similar form from their healthcare provider.

Caroline Green, school nurse consultant for the Utah Department of Health, said that each year one to two percent of the population opt to be exempt, mostly for personal reasons.

Because two doses of the hepatitis A are needed six months apart, Green said that children can enter school this fall with a conditional enrollment after receiving their first shot.

"We"ve been working with the schools and clinics to get the word out, but there"s always the last minute rush in August for children to get all their immunizations in time for school," Green said.

You can reach reporter Cathy McKitrick at 625-4252 or e-mail cmckitrick@standard.net.