Kids' Health: Vaccination Requirements for College
What vaccinations does my daughter need before she heads off to college?
A young woman starting college needs to consider several vaccinations. The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the meningococcal vaccine (MCV4) for all college freshmen living in dormitories. This would help protect your daughter from the most common type of meningitis, an infection around the brain and spinal cord.
The second vaccine that should be considered is the new human papillomavirus virus (HPV) vaccine. This vaccine protects against 70 percent of all types of cervical cancer as well as 90 percent of the types of HPV that cause genital warts.
It's recommended that your daughter get an influenza vaccine annually to protect against the flu. This vaccine is available as a nasal spray or injection. If she has not received a tetanus vaccination in the last two years, the new tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, which protects against all three diseases, should be considered. Adolescents are susceptible to pertussis (whooping cough), which can result in a prolonged cough. Although the vaccines cannot be considered 100 percent effective, they carry few side effects compared to their benefits.
Other vaccinations should be considered as "catch up," if they have not already been completed. These include: two doses of the chicken pox (Varivax) vaccine; two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine; three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine; and two doses of the hepatitis A vaccine.
Further information about kids' health and vaccines is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The second vaccine that should be considered is the new human papillomavirus virus (HPV) vaccine. This vaccine protects against 70 percent of all types of cervical cancer as well as 90 percent of the types of HPV that cause genital warts.
It's recommended that your daughter get an influenza vaccine annually to protect against the flu. This vaccine is available as a nasal spray or injection. If she has not received a tetanus vaccination in the last two years, the new tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, which protects against all three diseases, should be considered. Adolescents are susceptible to pertussis (whooping cough), which can result in a prolonged cough. Although the vaccines cannot be considered 100 percent effective, they carry few side effects compared to their benefits.
Other vaccinations should be considered as "catch up," if they have not already been completed. These include: two doses of the chicken pox (Varivax) vaccine; two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine; three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine; and two doses of the hepatitis A vaccine.
Further information about kids' health and vaccines is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Answered by
Dr. Stanley Grogg
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