Summer seems shorter each year, and school bells will soon be ringing for most children entering or going back to school. The North Georgia Health District, part of the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health, and your local public health department remind parents that now is the time to make sure your student and/or day care child meets the state’s vaccination requirements. These requirements include:

Vaccine requirements for children age 5 and under

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is required for all children younger than 5 years of age who are attending child care facilities, Head Start or pre-kindergarten programs.

Hepatitis A vaccine or laboratory proof of immunity is required for all children born on or after Jan. 1, 2006, and who are enrolled in any school, child care facility, Head Start or pre-k program.

Additional doses required for kindergarten, sixth grade and new entrants to Georgia schools

These required vaccines are mandatory for children entering kindergarten, sixth grade and new entrants (a “new entrant” is any child entering any school or facility in Georgia for the first time or after having been absent from a Georgia facility for more than 12 months or one school year) into any grade K through 12:

• Two doses of measles vaccine, two doses of mumps vaccine, and one dose of rubella vaccine or laboratory proof of immunity against measles, mumps, or rubella.

• Two doses of varicella (chicken pox) vaccine or documentation of disease or laboratory proof of immunity.

Contact your local health department or health care provider to receive any needed vaccinations and to obtain the Georgia Certificate of Immunization. For more information about immunizations, call your local public health department. The Whitfield County health department phone number is (706) 226-2621. The Murray County health department phone number is (706) 695-4585.