BRYAN, Texas — The start of the school year is rapidly approaching, and the Brazos County Health District wants to offer an affordable way for kids to be ready for the start of the new year.
“A lot of parents don’t know they literally cannot pick up their schedules if they’re not up to date with their vaccines,” said Caroline Greer, Vaccine Coordinator at the Brazos County Health District.
Students of all ages are required to have certain vaccines before going back to school.
“Typically with the four year olds, we need to do another tetanus and polio, and then for the seventh graders, its the meningitis, tetanus and HPV," Greer explained. "And for the 16 to 18 year old's typically it's that second meningitis as well as that meningitis B.”
The health department offers an affordable way to ensure the safety of children.
“The people that would eligible are the people that are uninsured, underinsured on Medicaid or Alaskan native or American Indian and for those people, the kiddo vaccines are $13.75 per visit, and if they have Medicaid, its built in so its free to them,” noted Greer.
Last August, they gave out almost 2,000 vaccines, and are hoping parents get ahead of the back to school rush.
“It can be really scary to get your kids vaccinated they don’t want to get vaccinated obviously but in the end its so much worse if they’re actually getting sick with these diseases,” said Greer.
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