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Editor’s Note: August marks the start of a new partnership between the Learning First Alliance and the NEA Health Information Network. Each month, we will feature a new column on a topic related to school health. Through this effort, we hope to inform the public of important health issues that impact schools and offer educators and parents resources to address them.

Today's post was authored by Édeanna M. Chebbi, Hygiene and Disease Prevention Program Coordinator for the NEA Health Information Network.

For many students the back to school bustle includes a review of vaccine requirements.  Immunizations are an important and necessary item on the school preparation check list and school entry requirements ensure that students remain up-to-date. But what about the grown-ups?

Students and staff who receive the recommended vaccinations for their age not only protect themselves from deadly diseases, they also protect the unimmunized students and adults around them.  The larger the number of those vaccinated, the greater the protection for the entire community.  

Adults working in schools may not be required to maintain recommended adult vaccines and those who are in need of booster vaccines leave the remainder of the community at risk.  As an example, the whooping cough (pertussis) outbreak of 2010 spread easily amongst communities where adults had not maintained their booster Tdap shots.  The lack of immunity allowed the disease to spread widely, resulting in the death of 10 children who were ineligible (for medical reasons) to receive the vaccine.  Another example is the high rate of measles infections the U.S. is experiencing.  Measles is a highly contagious disease and has spread rampantly among an unvaccinated adult population.

As you begin a new school year, why not add your own visit with the doctor to the list? Ensure that you are up-to-date with all of your recommended vaccines and booster shots.  You may just save a life!

For more information on recommended childhood vaccines, visit the NEA Health Information website.

Information on recommended adult vaccines and boosters may be found at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. 

To keep up-to-date on the latest school related vaccine and health information, follow us on Twitter @HINdiseaseprvnt or @NEAHIN.