RESOURCES
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Fact Sheets
Infographics
TRUSTED RESOURCES REGARDING VACCINES AND VACCINE SAFETY
-
Vaccinate Your Family Vaccinate Your Family is a national nonprofit organization committed to reducing the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases in families and individuals.
-
Voices for Vaccines Voices for Vaccines (VFV) is a parent-driven organization supported by scientists, doctors, and public health officials that provides parents clear, science-based information about vaccines and vaccine-preventable disease, as well as an opportunity to join the national discussion about the importance of on-time vaccination.
-
Healthy Children The American Academy of Pediatrics’s 60,000 member pediatricians are committed to the physical, mental and social well-being of all infants, children, teens and young adults – and all of the information you’ll find here is supported by scientific research.
-
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Vaccine Education Center The Vaccine Education Center provides reliable, up-to-date information about vaccines. Facts about all vaccines are provided on the website as well as other informational materials.
-
Parent App: Vaccines on the Go – What You Should Know Provides all parents with reliable information about the science, safety, and importance of vaccines and the diseases they prevent. From The Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the app is available for Android and Apple devices.
-
Immunization Action Coalition For parents and people of all ages, the Immunization Action Coalition provides timely, accurate, and factual information about vaccines and the diseases they prevent.
-
Oklahoma State Department of Health As a major unit of the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Prevention and Preparedness Services the Immunization Service works to stop diseases before they start by promoting vaccination of all Oklahomans.
-
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.
VACCINE SCHEDULE
Knowing what vaccines are needed at which ages is an important part of every child's health. Parents and caretakers can find an overview from the Oklahoma State Department of Health here. Find out which immunizations are recommended for school here, along with the ages by which they are typically administered and what will be requested at defined grade levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations are available below.
-
Catch-up Immunization Schedule – For children 4 months through 18 years of age who start late or who are more than one month behind
EXEMPTIONS
Immunizing school-age children is one of the most effective ways we can protect children and their classmates against vaccine-preventable diseases. When the majority of people in a community are protected through immunizations, the risk for disease is minimized.
Oklahoma law allows for parents to exempt their children from getting immunized for medical, religious or philosophical reasons and still attend school. You learn more about Oklahoma’s school immunization requirements here. These immunization requirements ensure that most people are protected through immunization. However, some parents chose to opt-out of immunizations out of convenience, such as when immunization records are not readily available, while others are concerned about vaccine safety.
Vaccines go through extensive approval processes and continuous monitoring to ensure their safety and effectiveness. As with any medical intervention, immunizations carry some risk, however, the risk from the disease is much greater than the risk associated with the vaccine itself.
Vaccine preventable diseases can cause serious life-threatening complications. Opting out or delaying immunizations puts a child at risk of getting the disease and puts those who cannot be immunized at risk as well. These children must rely on the community to help protect them from diseases by community wide immunization.
Choosing to fully immunize according to the recommended CDC schedule is the most effective way to protect your child from diseases that could cause serious life-treating complications.
