Alberta Health Services is reminding parents to ensure children are immunized ahead of returning to school next week.
"By following a routine immunization schedule, you and your child will be immunized against diseases at the safest and most effective ages and stages," said Dr. Christopher Sikora, Medical Officer of Health, Edmonton Zone in a wirtten release. "This means you and your child will get the maximum possible protection."
AHS says it provides free immunization for infants and children in Alberta.
It says while children should have received both the dTap and MMR vaccines by age four, at least twenty per cent of kids have not.
“Immunization is safe, immunization is effective and immunization protects whole communities. The more people who are fully immunized in a community, the safer everyone is,” said Dr. Sikora in the release.
The province says 78 per cent of children under the age of 2 in Albetra have been immunized for diptheria, tetanus and whooping cough. And, at age 7, about 80 per cent of children have had their shots for mumps, measles and rubella.
