For parents with children attending school, there is no shortage of to-do lists, ranging from back-to-school clothes shopping to meeting teachers and learning bus schedules. The tail end of summer also serves as an excellent opportunity for parents to ensure their children are caught up with all necessary and recommended vaccines before kicking off another year of learning, or perhaps, the child’s first year in the classroom. Understandably, parents may not have vaccines in their minds, with so many other responsibilities circulating in the late summer to early fall months. That is where the ever-expanding role of the pediatrician can once again come in and make a difference.

Using back-to-school season as a vaccine reminder

Beyond reminders of upcoming vaccines, pediatric primary care providers can also equip parents with tools that help them better understand when and why vaccines are given at certain ages. Plenty of vaccine recommendation tools exist, such as the CDC's full vaccine schedule or the more parent-oriented Vaccine Education Center website, created by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).^1,2 These resources can be invaluable in the various local communities nationwide, where school vaccine mandates vary by state for certain vaccines. Although they might add one more item to check off on a parent’s hectic schedule in the lead-up to a new school year, vaccine requirements and reminders are essential to protect children in the halls. Using the school year as a benchmark reminder has been a long-standing tradition.

“I think it is important to go back in history to understand how we even linked vaccines to the school year,” said Lori Handy, MD, MSCE, associate director, Vaccine Education Center and attending physician, Division of Infectious Diseases, CHOP. “This is related to earlier vaccines—measles vaccine, polio vaccine—where we had diseases that spread heavily in schools. Groups of young children, 5 or 6 years old, were getting infections for the first time and spreading something highly contagious to their classmates. So school time is a great time to pause and make sure children are protected and ready to enter a crowded setting where they can learn and not contract a new infection,” said Handy.

Millions of children missed out on 1 or more vaccinations in the 3 years after the COVID-19 pandemic for various reasons, including service disruptions, a strained health care system, or a lack of vaccine confidence, according to a report from UNICEF. The April 2023 report stated that 67 million children missed a vaccine in this time frame, and although 5 years have passed since the first COVID-19 cases appeared, some children could still be playing catch-up.

“We find that it is a significant rush for kids who have, for whatever reason, fallen behind. The summer months are a time when people make an increased effort to ensure that their kids are completely up to date,” Jesse Hackell, MD, FAAP, told Contemporary Pediatrics.

Hackell is a retired general pediatrician and currently serves as chair of the Committee on Pediatric Workforce at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); is the immediate past president of NYS AAP Chapter 3; and is co-chair of the Pediatric Council, NYS AAP Chapters 2 & 3.

The change of environment from the outdoors and increased play time during the summer months to the confined spaces of hallways and classrooms during the fall is even more reason to encourage parents to get their children up to date on immunizations.

“A number of viruses and illnesses circulate in greater numbers during the winter,” said Hackell. “If you add the presence of normal viruses to the close quarters and increased indoor time, we know it is a time when communicable diseases have an easier time spreading. There is a higher risk of the spread of diseases during the school year, which is another reason for making sure that everybody is current when they start school.”

Explaining requirements, recommendations to parents

As mentioned before, different states may have slightly different vaccine requirements, though it could be best practice to recommend beyond the scope of the school requirement. This is where the broader recommendations from the CDC, AAP, and other trusted sources come into play.

“To know the difference between the childhood immunization schedule, as recommended by the CDC, vs a school requirement is important. They are different,” said Handy. “As a pediatrician, I would focus on the recommended childhood schedule because those are the vaccines children need, not just to go to school, but also to exist in the world. You do not need a tetanus vaccine to be safe in a classroom, but as a 5-year-old, you need a tetanus vaccine to be safe playing in the dirt. As pediatricians, we want to ensure children receive the right vaccines to be healthy, and that means following the full immunization schedule.”

Navigating vaccines with parents in the current climate

Both Handy and Hackell acknowledged how vaccine hesitancy can play a role, especially in recent years, in whether parents choose to have their children vaccinated or how many of the recommended vaccines they want their children to receive. Recent changes in the federal government related to vaccine schedules, frameworks, and policies could be adding uncertainty for parents.

On July 7, 2025, the AAP, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and a pregnant physician announced a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to “defend vaccine policy.”⁴

The joint societies referenced the CDC’s May 27, 2025, pulling of its recommendation for routine COVID-19 vaccination among healthy individuals and pregnant women, as well as the firing of 17 Advisory Committee on Vaccine Immunization members, who were then replaced by Kennedy-appointed personnel “who have historically espoused antivaccine viewpoints.”⁴

Amid these changes, paired with misinformation on social media and other platforms that get in front of parents and children, experts recommend providers fall back on long-standing, reputable, and trusted sources, especially as parents explain their potential real concerns regarding vaccines.

“Both pediatricians and adult clinicians are taking a moment to think about what resource they want to use as their go-to,” added Handy. “For pediatricians, we want to stick to resources where the entire mission is keeping kids healthy. Organizations that share that mission include the AAP, the Vaccine Education Center (CHOP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which focuses on maternal health and protecting newborns through maternal vaccination. If you encounter confusing or conflicting information elsewhere, fall back on these society resources that have hundreds of years of experience supporting children and healthy pregnancies.”

For parents who may be concerned about vaccination, it is important to thoroughly listen to their concerns and seek out the root of the issue while using the knowledge that parents are coming to you for—knowledge that will best protect their children.

“Our job is to address them, to build confidence in the parents about the vaccines, their safety, and their efficacy, to build confidence in the manufacturers and the pediatricians who administer the vaccines,” said Hackell. “We want to reassure parents that the reason for doing this is to benefit their children, to keep them safe and healthy, and to keep them in school.”

Handy agrees, advising her patients to ask their pediatricians these questions so they get information from a trusted source.

“What I have been saying most often is that in this moment of so much misinformation and changing information, the most trusted resource and the most trusted messenger is the child's pediatric provider,” said Handy. “Providers should own that role and embrace it. It takes work and time, but it is an important position to be in to help families navigate all this information and guide them to make good choices for their children.”

All stock clips in video above courtesy of stock.adobe.com.

References:

1. Your child needs vaccines as they grow! CDC. June 20, 2025. Accessed July 9, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-schedules/child-easyread.html

2. Age groups and vaccines. CHOP. Updated June 1, 2023. Accessed July 9, 2025. https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-schedule/age-groups-and-vaccines

3. New data indicates declining confidence in childhood vaccines of up to 44 percentage points in some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Press release. UNICEF. April 20, 2023. Accessed July 9, 2025. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/sowc_2023_immunization

4. ACIP updates: Committee recommends clesrovimab for RSV, reaffirms routine influenza vaccination. Press release. July 7, 2025. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/acip-updates-committee-votes-5-2-to-recommend-clesrovimab-to-protect-against-rsv