Missoula health officials will host a vaccine clinic on Wednesday, Aug. 23 to get kids up-to-date with immunizations as school resumes.

The Missoula City-County Health Department is scheduled to put on its first Back-to-School Immunization Clinic from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. All vaccinations required for Missoula County Public Schools kindergartners through seventh graders will be available at the clinic, according to a health department news release.

For kindergarten students, the list includes: DTaP, IPV (the polio vaccine), MMR (prevents measles, mumps and rubella) and the chickenpox vaccine. Seventh grader booster shots offered will include: Tdap, HPV and Meningitis.

COVID-19 and flu immunizations won’t be available at Wednesday’s clinic but will be offered in coming months. The Centers for Disease Control reported a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization this week, though overall levels are still low, according to Reuters.

For Missoulians without health insurance, the health department is part of the Vaccine for Children program, which offers those qualifying people a sliding fee scale for low- to no-cost vaccinations, the news release stated. Parents and guardians need to bring their photo ID, child’s vaccination records and a health insurance card if they have one.

“We recognize that the pandemic impacted families’ access to routine care, including routine immunizations,” said Sara Heineman, director of Health Services at MCCHD, in the news release.

“It’s important to maintain certain thresholds of vaccine immunity as that is what provides ‘herd immunity’ or ‘community immunity.’ Lowering those protective thresholds puts everyone at risk of communicable diseases, such as measles and pertussis. This can result in lost school days for students and teachers, missed work for parents to care for sick children, and costs associated with medical care and sometimes hospitalization,” she continued.

Those who are unable to attend the clinic this Wednesday can visit the health department’s walk-in clinic Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment on Wednesdays. For questions, call the health department at 406-258-3363.