Get your child vaccinated

The Courier, Houma, La.: It seems like summer just began, but local schoolchildren are just a few short days from going back to class.

For parents, that means shopping for uniforms and school supplies, getting ready for a return to a rigid schedule and, for many of us, a trip to the doctor’s office or health clinic.

School kids must be vaccinated against several diseases, for their protection and for the protection of their classmates.

State law requires many vaccines for children 4 or older entering kindergarten, pre-K or Head Start.

While there is a process for being exempted from the vaccine requirement on the basis of medical or philosophical objections, the course is required for most children. And that is for the best.

In addition to local doctors’ offices, vaccines are available at parish health clinics for those who qualify.

If you fail to vaccinate your children against the preventable diseases for which vaccines are readily available, not only will you leave your child vulnerable to infection, but his or her classmates will be at a higher risk of exposure.

Vaccines are simple and cheap, although the children on the receiving end of the shots might not think so.

The fact is, though, that your kids will be much better off if you take action now to protect them.