HARRISBURG – The PA Departments of Health, Education, Human Services, and Insurance are reminding families to ensure their children’s immunizations are up to date as part of back-to-school preparations. Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as chicken pox, meningitis, measles, whooping cough, and others are still seen across the Commonwealth. They say keeping children up to date on vaccinations is the best way to keep them healthy and reduce unnecessary absences from school. Most insurance plans are required to cover school vaccinations as a free preventive service without charging a copayment or coinsurance. Children in grades K-12 need the following immunizations for attendance: tetanus, diphtheria, polio, MMR, hepatitis B, and chicken pox. Children entering the seventh grade need additional immunizations of MCV and Tdap. While the COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory to attend school, the Wolf Administration encourages Pennsylvanians ages 5 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
