As School Year Begins, Check Your Child’s Vaccination Records

Baltimore, Md. — CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the region’s largest not-for-profit health insurer, is reminding parents to add immunizations for vaccine-preventable diseases to their kid’s back-to-school checklist this year.

A shot to prevent measles should be near the top of that list – as the number of reported measles cases in the U.S. has skyrocketed to more than 1,200 as of mid-August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s the highest number of reported cases since 1992, and it’s already more than three times the number of cases reported in the U.S. in 2018.

Schools in CareFirst’s Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., coverage area require children in kindergarten through 12th grade to have two doses of the measles vaccines.

While the measles outbreak is garnering much of the attention, immunizations for other vaccine-preventable diseases are also important for a healthy school year, said Dr. Russell Lewis, a CareFirst Medical Director and board-certified family physician. The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians recommend school-aged children be vaccinated against as many as 16 infectious diseases, including hepatitis A and hepatitis B, human papillomavirus (HPV), meningitis, mumps, pertussis, polio and tetanus.

Dr. Lewis said children should get the HPV vaccine by the time they enter 6th grade. Not only does the HPV vaccine help prevent sexually transmitted infections, it also helps prevent various types of cancer, including cervical and throat, he said.

Dr. Lewis also recommends children receive a flu shot when it becomes available – typically by Oct. 1 each year. The flu vaccine is among the most effective ways to curb the spread of influenza and each year prevents hundreds of thousands of deaths as a result of flu infections, according to the CDC.

Scheduling these and other immunizations with your child’s primary care provider protects your child from these illnesses and helps to prevent the spread of illnesses to children who don’t get vaccinated or are immune compromised, Dr. Lewis said.

“The goal is prevention and limiting a child’s exposure to any of these infectious diseases,” Dr. Lewis said. “We’ve come a long way to drastically reduce the rate of vaccine-preventable deaths, and parents can stay up to date on their child’s immunization schedule with the help of their primary care provider.”

For CareFirst members, these vaccines are covered at no cost. For more information, review CareFirst's preventive care services.

Under the Affordable Care Act, children are covered under their parents’ health plans until they turn 26 years old.

For more information about immunizations for vaccine-preventable diseases, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Healthy Children website.