NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Tennessee children will be heading back to school soon, but officials say some are turned away every year because their parents failed to get them the required immunizations.
Dr. Kelly Moore with the Tennessee Department of Health says children attending school for the first time are required to present an Immunization Certificate. She says students enrolling in seventh grade and in college could also be turned away if they don’t get the right booster shots.
“Most of the time that doesn’t happen, but we do see that occasionally, especially with kids entering the 7th grade, if their parents don’t pay attention to the reminders the school may be sending.”
To remind parents just how important those shots are, the Health Department notes that West Tennessee suffered a rare measles outbreak this past year. Moore says measles is the illness that she worries about most.
“In a school setting it is particularly dangerous because you have such big groups of children. We require every child going into Kindergarten all the way through college to have two doses of a measles containing vaccine.”
Details about what immunizations are required, and at what ages, can be found on the Tennessee Department of Health website.