Umpqua Community College Supports Shots for Tots Event

By Marissa Harshman, The News-Review

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Kids may not like feeling the poke of a needle in their arms, but that’s not stopping a couple dozen nurses from administering hundreds of free vaccines Saturday.

The annual Shots for Tots event is taking place this weekend in Roseburg. The clinic offers a slew of required and optional vaccines for children up to age 18 — all free of charge, regardless of a family’s income. This week, the Douglas County Health Department mailed 862 letters across the county to families with a child or children requiring certain vaccines, said Karen Vian, county communicable disease program coordinator. Children have until Feb. 18 to get the needed shots, or receive a religious exemption. Otherwise they will not be allowed to attend their respective child care centers, preschools, Head Start programs or schools, Vian said.

This year the Health Department sent out more letters than it has in past years, which probably can be attributed to the changes in vaccine requirements, Vian said. For the 2008-09 school year, kids in kindergarten, preschool, Head Start and day care centers are required to have two Hepatitis A vaccines. Children in seventh grade are also required to have a Tdap shot. The vaccines are required by state law to protect communities from communicable disease outbreaks. “The more people that are immune to diseases, the less likely you are to have a problem,” said Lynne Weaver, Shots for Tots organizer. “If you have a group of people not up to date, then they’re exposing the population to the disease.”

The Shots for Tots event began in February 2003. The clinic began as a twice-yearly event, but has since been cut back to one time each year. In 2001, Douglas County had one of the lowest immunization rates in the state, just 49 percent of children. The County Commissioners hired Weaver to find a way to bring the immunization rate up; her solution was Shots for Tots. Since the clinic began in 2003, more than 1,600 kids have been vaccinated through the program for a total of more than 4,100 vaccines. As of 2007, the county’s vaccination rate was up to 70 percent. This year, Weaver estimates the clinic will give out about $18,000 to $19,000 worth of vaccines to Douglas County children.

The shots will be administered by Umpqua Community College nursing students, who will be supervised by clinical nurses. In addition to the vaccines required by state law, the clinic will also offer a couple of optional vaccines.

This year, the Shots for Tots clinic will offer the Gardasil vaccine, which helps prevent against cervical cancer, said Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, who is a local pediatrician and has been involved with Shots for Tots since its inception. It’s best for girls to receive that vaccine before becoming sexually active, Dannenhoffer said. The clinic will also offer a vaccine that is effective in preventing meningococcal disease, he said. While the clinic is only offered one day a year, Vian wants parents to know that vaccines are provided year-round at the Health Department and at pediatric offices, several of which offer free or low-cost vaccines for qualifying families.