Lori Handy, MD: Vaccine-only visits can help ease back-to-school gaps

With the start of the school year approaching, pediatricians can expect a familiar trend: families realizing their otherwise healthy children may have missed a crucial well visit—and vaccines—before kindergarten registration. According to Lori Handy, MD, MSCE, associate director of the Vaccine Education Center and attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), this scenario plays out every year.

“By the time a child is 4 years of age, particularly if they are otherwise healthy, there might be a missed well visit,” said Handy. “Then you go to register them for kindergarten and realize, ‘Oh, we missed a visit,’ possibly one with several vaccines due.”

To help manage this annual rush, Handy said pediatric practices can consider offering vaccine-only appointments if the full well-child visit is already scheduled for later in the fall. “This allows the child to enter kindergarten on time and provides more time later in the fall for the full visit,” she noted.

In an earlier interview, Handy emphasized that school entry is not only a logistical checkpoint but a critical public health opportunity. “It is a nice pause to say, let’s look back: have you missed anything?” she said.¹

Handy also pointed to common difficulties parents and providers face when trying to determine what vaccines are due, especially with variations in vaccine products and timing. “The CDC schedule is complicated because it tries to account for every scenario,” she said, noting that some children may receive a 2-dose rotavirus series, while others might need 3 doses. For pediatric providers, integrating immunization schedules into their electronic health records can help simplify the process.

“If providers know the brand of a certain vaccine they use, they can simplify the process rather than going to the CDC and looking at different colored bars and timelines,” Handy explained. On the family side, she encouraged proactive communication. “Families can always call or send a message to their pediatrician and say, ‘We have an upcoming visit. Can you remind me what shots might be happening so I can read up on them and we can have a good conversation?’”

The Vaccine Education Center on the CHOP website provides easy-to-navigate information related to vaccination in children across all ages. Click here to view the age groups and vaccines. Handy encouraged providers to share this link with parents who have questions about vaccine timing, or sharing with all parents for familiarity and scheduling purposes.²

Reference:

1. Fitch J. Lori Handy, MD on importance of vaccine catch-up before the school year. Contemporary Pediatrics. July 17, 2024. Accessed July 25, 2025. https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/lori-handy-md-importance-vaccine-catch-up-before-school-year
2. Offit P (reviewed). Age group and vaccines. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Updated June 1, 2023. Accessed July 25, 2025. https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-schedule/age-groups-and-vaccines