Different immunizations are required and recommended at different grade levels, and not just in kindergarten through sixth grade.

As school supplies begin to fill seasonal aisles of most major retailers, parents know the time is nigh.

With all the essential items to take into account (obviously those Pokémon-themed pencils are an absolute necessity), it’s easy to overlook the items most teachers don’t include on their supply lists: shots.

Different immunizations are required and recommended at different grade levels, and not just in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Kathy Colson, clinic supervisor with the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department and a registered nurse, said the required immunizations for attendance at each grade level vary depending on the child’s age.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment sets requirements based on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, recommendations.

Immunization requirements and ages for children to attend Kansas public schools in grades K through 12:

However, licensed child care facilities and early childhood programs operated by schools have other requirements in addition to those listed in the table above.

Additional immunization requirements for children attending state-licensed child care programs or schools’ early childhood programs in Kansas:

In addition to those, however, Colson said there are several other vaccinations that are recommended, but not required:

• Rotavirus: According to the KDHE, three doses of rotavirus vaccine are recommended for children under 8 months of age entering child care or early childhood programs.
• Influenza: Colson said the LDCHD recommends flu shots every year for everyone ages 6 months and up.
• Meningococcal (MCV4): The KDHE says one dose is recommended at age 11, with a booster dose at age 16.
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV): Three doses are recommended at age 11 in a series of three shots; dose 2 should be 1 to 2 months after the first shot, and dose 3 should be given 6 months after the first shot, according to the CDC.

Also, most colleges and universities — particularly those with on-campus housing, such as Kansas University — require students to be vaccinated against meningitis (MCV4).

Colson said children who cannot be vaccinated because of other health issues can provide schools a written exemption from a doctor. She also said there is an option of a written religious exemption for parents who have strong objections to vaccinating their children, but she does not recommend that route.

“The thing that parents have to understand with that is when one of these vaccine-preventable diseases shows up in a classmate, then the person who is not vaccinated may have to stay out of school for at least 21 days or longer,” she said.

Additionally, Colson said she believes in the safety and validity of vaccinations, and everyone should get them.

“I think they are a tremendous benefit to your general health and to the health of the community at large as things have changed, where we have more people with immune disorders; we have people living longer, who then maybe do not have good immune systems also,” she said. “By vaccinating ourselves we are also helping protect their health when they have no choice in the matter.”

Some parents have particular concerns about the HPV vaccine, and according to an Associated Press article from February, Kansas ranks last in the nation in the percentage of girls who have received it.

Colson said the HPV vaccine doesn’t need to negate the values parents instill in their children about sex; rather, because HPV can lead to cervical and several other types of cancer, she said she sees it as a means of cancer prevention.

“If this was some other type of cancer that was not (connected to a) sexually transmitted virus, we would be all over it,” Colson said. “But because it’s hooked into a sexually transmitted infection, we are very hesitant, and I think we need to get rid of that sexually transmitted thought and focus on the cancer prevention.”