Parents are encouraged this week to check their children’s immunization records and make sure they are up to date with their vaccinations.

This week is National Infant Immunization Week. Vaccines are the most effective way parents can protect their children from several vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. Among those diseases are measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A and B, whooping cough and the flu.

“Many of these diseases still occur in the U.S., and children who are not immunized increase the chance that they and others will get a vaccine-preventable disease,” said Barbara Schnitker, director of nurses at the health department.

Contact your physician or the health department at 843-0721 if you have questions about your child’s immunization record.