Vaccinations: Adolescents In Focus

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, it's time to get out the checklist to confirm that your kids' vaccinations are up to date.

And this year, reports The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending a whole new round of immunizations when children reach adolescence.

A booster for diphtheria and tetanus was already on the schedule around age 11 or 12. But, explains Senay, that's now been combined with a booster for pertussis, or whooping cough. That disease is especially severe when infants catch it. And it's easy for a teenager or adult whose original vaccination has worn off to spread pertussis to youngsters. This booster is designed to help prevent that.

There's also a vaccine for meningitis, a disease whose spread has reached alarming rates in college dormitories, Senay points out. The CDC says the ideal target group for this vaccine is also around age 12 though, for the moment, older teenagers are a priority because of vaccine shortages. But once that's resolved, 11 to 12 will be the target age.

There's also the newly-approved vaccine to prevent several strains of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer in women. Full distribution may take a few months, but it's likely any young girl around age 11 should be able to get that vaccine by the end of fall.

Vaccinations can't be ignored, and parents needn't fear their impact on kids, Senay stresses.

It's not just in other countries that kids still get sick and die from preventable diseases.

Just last year in Indiana, for instance, a lack of vaccinations led to 34 cases of measles. One case was so serious that the patient spent six days in intensive care before recovering. Mumps and whooping cough have also made comebacks in the United States. These and other diseases can all make a child very sick, or even kill.

According to the CDC, these diseases are reappearing to the extent that they are due to a combination of kids who aren't vaccinated, and easy air travel. Last year's measles outbreak occurred after an unvaccinated girl from Indiana went abroad, became infected by the measles virus, then returned home and contaminated other unvaccinated Americans.

As for parental fears about immunizations potentially doing more harm than good, Senay says evidence suggests they shouldn't worry. Statistics continue to tell us that a child is far more likely to become seriously ill from one of these preventable diseases than from any harm from a vaccine.

Senay reminds parents that the inoculations schedule recommended by the CDC includes up to 27 vaccinations in the first two years of life, though combination vaccines that have arrived in recent years are cutting that number down, by covering multiple diseases in a single dose.

Your pediatrician can guide you through the details. You can also find a link to official vaccination schedules by clicking here.