Photograph by George Sakkestad
Sunnvyale resident Rizal Marquez, held by his mother, Susan, gets an armful from Kathy Cunningham, a nurse at Altos Pediatric.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Some Sunnyvale kids may need extra shots before entering a kindergarten classroom or day-care center next fall.
New state regulations that require those children to be vaccinated for hepatitis B take effect in August. Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver.
The number of children needing the hepatitis B vaccination will be fairly high this year because of the regulations, according to Rae Wedel, the immunization program manager at the Santa Clara County Health Department.
"But the number will go down every year because many doctors are vaccinating at birth," she said.
Parents can get the immunization for free or at a low cost at many clinics, Wedel said.
The vaccine consists of three shots: the second must be given a month after the first one; the third shot must be administered five months later. The state added hepatitis B to its immunization requirements to protect children, but exceptions will be made for medical, religious or personal reasons, Wedel said.
People who are infected in childhood have an increased risk of becoming chronic carriers who can pass the virus to their children through pregnancy; the chances are also high that they will have cirrhosis, a breakdown of liver-cell function, and liver cancer, Wedel said.
Hepatitis B can be transmitted through blood or sexual contact, said Sue Yaeger, an R.N. and the hepatitis B prevention coordinator at the county's health department.
"Those who are entering kindergarten are a captive audience. It's harder to get kids to come in once they enter their teens," she said.
California accounts for almost 30 percent of the nation's infections in children, according to Wedel.
Kristin Lemay, whose daughter will begin kindergarten at Vargas Elementary School in Sunnyvale in the fall, didn't realize the state had passed new regulations. Her two youngest children received the vaccination just after birth, but her doctor hadn't mentioned the hepatitis B vaccination for her oldest child.
"It doesn't make any difference. I'm in there enough anyway. If it's something to keep the kids healthy, then it's something you just do," she said.
Schools prefer that children have finished the hepatitis B vaccination series, but will accept children as long as they've had the first shot.
For more information, parents can contact their local school or the County Health Department at 299-6850 or 800-310-2332.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.