WASHINGTON – Whooping cough is one concern for parents right now, and a different respiratory illness caused by a rare viral strain is another.
Health workers in Prince George’s County will try to address both this weekend. Anne Arundel County will offer clinics starting Monday.
“We are having four free immunization clinics this Saturday,” says Dr. Angela Wakhweya, with Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Wakhweya says workers will be passing out information about enterovirus D68, the uncommon viral strain that is now confirmed to be in six states as far east as Kentucky.
At the clinics, kindergartners will get shots to prevent chickenpox and 7th graders will shots that guard against whooping cough and meningitis, among other illnesses. The school system requires students to receive those shots.
There is no vaccine for enterovirus D68.
The clinics will be held at Bladensburg, Northwestern, Oxon Hill and Fairmont Heights high schools. They will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The Anne Arundel County Department of Health has also set up a free walk-in clinic for students who still need the Tdap and meningococcal immunizations required of seventh graders this school year. The clinic will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on Monday, September 15, at Meade Middle School, located at 1103 26th St. on Fort Meade.
Tdap and meningococcal immunizations will be administered to students from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Glen Burnie and Parole health centers on Sept. 15-17, and 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 19. The Glen Burnie Health Center is located at 416 A Street, S.W. in Glen Burnie. The Parole Health Center is located at 1950 Drew St. in Annapolis. For information, call 410-222-6633 or 410-222-7247.
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