CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION SERVICES

The Howard County Health Department offers free vaccine to children and adolescents to meet their school immunization requirements. Free immunizations are also offered for infants. A parent/guardian must accompany their child to the clinic and MUST BRING THE CHILD'S IMMUNIZATION RECORD.

What routine immunizations does my child need?

And what diseases are prevented?

• DTaP protects against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus(lockjaw).
• IPV protects against polio (can cause paralysis of the arms and legs).
• MMR protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
• HEPATITIS B and HEPATITIS A protects against Hepatitis B or Hepatitis A which can cause liver damage.
• VARIVAX protects against chickenpox.
• HIB protects against Haemphilus Influenza B which causes brain infections and brain damage.
• PREVNAR(PCV7) protects against respiratory and ear infections, as well as pneumonia.
• ROTAVIRUS protects your baby from severe diarrhea.

This downloadable tool, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can be used to determine which vaccines your child needs and is helpful for quickly seeing any missed or skipped vaccines.

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/scheduler/catchup.htm

Click Here For Clinic Information In English

Click here For School Requirement Information

If your child has not had all of these immunizations, or if you are not sure which immunizations your child has had...call your doctor or the Howard County Health Department at one of these locations:

Columbia Health Center:
410-313-7500

Southeastern Health Center:
410-880-5888

PRE-TEEN AND ADOLESCENT IMMUNIZATIONS

CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that pre-teens get several vaccines at their 11 or 12 year old check-up.

• Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap)
• Meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4)
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, for girls

These vaccines prevent serious, sometimes life-threatening diseases. Immunity from some childhood vaccines can decrease over time, so people need to get another dose of the vaccine during their pre-teen years. Also, as children move into adolescence, they are at greater risk of catching certain diseases, like meningitis and HPV. If your child did not get these vaccines at age 11 or 12, schedule an appointment to get them now.

For more information visit: www.cdc/gov/vaccines/preteen

Or you may send an e-mail to askhealth@howardcountymd.gov