Booster shots required for next school year

RALEIGH, N.C. — Students in North Carolina schools will need new immunizations for the 2008-2009 school year, the Department of Health and Human Services has announced. Students entering sixth grade and their freshman year of college will be required to have two booster shots before the start of school in the fall.

Sixth graders need a Tdap vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis) if more than five years have passed since their last dose.

College students need a Tdap if more than 10 years have passed since their last dose.

For students who did not receive two doses of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) before age four, an additional done is required.