MEASLES BOOSTER SHOTS CAMPAIGN PASSES HALFWAY MARK Three more free clinics scheduled this weekend
PITTSBURGH, Apr. 26 -- Since the Booster Booster campaign was launched on April 1, 5,655 elementary and secondary school students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools have received their measles booster vaccinations, or provided documentation of the vaccination. That represents more than 50 percent of the 11,287 students who were initially identified as not being in compliance with state health regulations.
Conducted under the auspices of the Greater Pittsburgh Measles Immunization Task Force, the campaign has involved informing the community of the need to update the students' immunization records, along with providing opportunities in the schools and community clinics to provide the measles booster to students who have not received it.
Nurses from Children's Hospital, the Allegheny County Health Department, and the Pittsburgh Public Schools will be dispensing free measles booster shots at three locations on Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free measles boosters will be administered to school age children at no cost to the families in Pittsburgh at the YMCA, 2621 Center Avenue; and the Macedonia Baptist Church, 2210 Bedford Avenue; and in McKeesport at the YWCA, 410 Ninth Avenue.
A parent or guardian should accompany the child who will be receiving the booster vaccination, in order to sign the required consent form. If parents are not sure if their child has been vaccinated, or if they can't find the records, they can have their child receive the free booster, because there is no harm in having a second immunization.
The Greater Pittsburgh Measles Immunization Task Force, which includes university and community leaders, was convened by University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg and Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent John Thompson. The chair of the task force's executive committee is Stephen Thomas, director of the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh.
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