Pat White, Immunization Action Program coordinator, said parents of sixth-graders will have to provide documentation to the school.

Officials at districts such as Rochester Community Schools have already notified parents. Fliers were sent home to all parents of pupils who will be sixth-graders in the fall. And notices were included in newsletters and on the Web site - www.Rochester.K12.mi.us.

Immunizations required by the time students enter sixth grade include two doses of measles, mumps and rubella, three doses of hepatitis B, three doses of polio, one dose of varicella against chicken pox and a complete tetanus-diptheria series.

"We want our young adolescent population to have better immunization," White said. "This (assessment) gives us a good idea how well protected our community is."

She said sometimes children have not had all their immunizations when they started kindergarten and some children, as they got older, may have slipped through the cracks for other immunizations.

In addition, there are at least two vaccines that were not required when sixth-graders were in kindergarten, hepatitis B and varicella. The varicella vaccine against chicken pox is required for the first time this year. It is supposed to be started at the same time as vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella, which is somewhere between 12-15 months.

Although chicken pox for so many years was considered only a mild childhood disease, states across the country now are requiring the vaccine because children and adults are 50 times more likely to develop the invasive group A strep infection after chicken pox more than any time in their life, White said.

The open sores of the pox are a good avenue for bacteria to get in, she said. And there is a mortality rate of 15 to 20 percent for those who get sick with the evasive group A strep infection. Other diseases, such as encephalitis, are also more likely after someone contracts chicken pox.

White said there is very little reaction to the vaccine. Children who have already had chicken pox will not be required to have the inoculation, if their parents document that disease history with the school.

Nationally, 63 percent of 19-35 month olds have received one dose of varicella, while in Michigan only 56 percent of the same age group have been inoculated.

Children can be immunized at their own doctor's office, at Oakland County Health Division clinics, and community outreach centers:
Pontiac office 1200 N. Telegraph Road, in Oakland County complex near Elizabeth Lake Road - (248) 858-1305.
Southfield Office, 27725 Greenfield Road, at Catalpa (11 1/2 Mile Road) - (248) 424-7046.