Children across the county will have more opportunities to become vaccinated for the beginning of the school year. Monroe County Immunization Clinic will extend its hours over the next month starting Wednesday.
September 16th ends the grace period for children in Rochester City Schools to complete their required vaccinations; otherwise they may be excluded from the classroom.
Superintendent Bolgen Vargas doesn’t want to see students’ attendance drop for any reason.
“We want to make sure that our children are in school every day. And we want to remove any barriers. I can't thank the county enough for making... as you know, if a family shows up here without insurance they still will get the services,” said Vargas.
Director of the Monroe County Department of Public Health, Byron Kennedy, says the immunization clinic protects the health of the entire community.
“Part of insuring the health of the health of our community is insuring the health in particular of our children. And so vaccines for vaccine preventable illnesses are a major component of that,” said Kennedy.
Families may walk in for immunization services Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until October 9th. Most vaccines are provided without cost to minors.