MsElui

Hello all,
We are due to move over shortly to the US and i was wondering about the immunisation stance there.

Do they have such a thing as the MMR jab in the US or is it done another way? At our planned move date my eldest will be about 39 months so a bit young for his mmr booster and my youngest will be about 10 months (again too young for his first mmr jab). Not sure how we would go about sorting this? Im checking what would be suitable here with my Health Visitor but wondered what happens regarding young kids and immunisation as normal in the US.
Anyone recomend any sites explaining the US immunisation policy?
(im guessing i will have to pay)

Many thanks for the help?
Elaine

Yorkieabroad

Check out
http://imminizationinfo.org or
http://cdc.gov
- both of them have the general requirements and one of them ( I think the first one) has a dropdown menu to search for any state-specific school requirements.

Yorkieabroad

that should have been http://immunizationinfo.org

MsElui

thanks very much - great link.

Can i also ask - are the immunisations going to be down to me to find out about, research and organize? or is it like the uk system whereby the health visitors (or their us equivalents) send you details of your next relevant appointments.

Jerseygirl

I think you will need to register your children with a pediatrician. Some doctors do remind you...others don't.

scrubbedexpat097

If your kids are going to be enrolled in day care or any kind of pre school then you will need to show their immunization records...you will soon find out if they are up to date.

The easiest way to make sure they are on schedule is to check with the local county health department. They will provide you with a list of their recommended schedule. It can differ slightly from state to state.

There are no health visitors here in the states that I am aware of.

MsElui

the immunizastion records i have are the old 'red books'. guess i need to keep them close to hand when we go.

Yorkieabroad

Its pretty much down to the parent, but once you have the kids registered with a pediatrician they'll keep you on track. Also, some states (Texas is one) keep all the kids immunisation records online, so you can pull them up when you need to. Doesn't work for some people (too big brotherish) , but its fine by me. But even so, make sure you keep a copy of their immunisation records cos the pre-K's will ask for it, along with a signed statement from their pediatrician that they are fit to go to pre-K. Also, you may run into problems (we did) with different timing of UK/US immunisations - the boxes weren' ticked in the right order to satisfy the pre-K, but our pedi wrote a letter confirming that the kids were Ok, and that sorted it.

Yorkieabroad

You'll probably get a state-specofic local version - worth transferring over to that as it'll cause less questions down the line

Jerseygirl

I was amazed when we first moved here...most of the children were registered with pediatricians, nutritionist, OBGYN (girl), orthodontic etc. My 11 yr old had only ever been registered with a dentist and GP in the UK.

Bluegrass Lass

You're kidding me?! Before I was 17, I only went to a pediatrician, an Internist (when I was older) or a dentist. Was never registered with an OBGYN or nutritionist. Sounds ridiculous to me. Why would an 11 yr old need to be registered with a OBG FFS?

Yorkieabroad

Mine are registered with a pediatrician, who does what the GP or healthvisitor would do in the UK I guess - annual well kids check ups and thats about it (- we don't let the kids get sick!). And they've been going to the dentist for 6 monthly checks, which presumably is the same in the UK. Never had a need for anything else. My daughters just turned 2 - do I need to be vetting OBGYN's any time soon

scrubbedexpat097

Seeing an OB/GYN at that age would probably be because of menstrual problems. A lot of pediatricians do not like to deal with these problems and also a lot of times it is preferred by the insurance company to see a specialist. Remember it is not unusual for young girls to be as young as 9 when they begin their periods nowadays

kins

Before you leave the UK get in touch with your kids' GP and request a copy of their immunisation record. You have a right to it and it will make your life much easier when you get here - you will be amazed how many people want to see copies of it. If possible get their GP to sign it - some schools here like it signed.

jumping doris

I contacted the child health dept at our local health authority and they gave me a printout for each child, each had an official rubber stamp on it. I did have to put my request in writing.
Make several photo copies and don't part with the original, don't even give anyone the chance to take it away. When we went for our GC medicals I had the original for my two elder daughters but my youngest daughters school had kept the rubber stamped copy. The civil surgeon wanted to see that one and it wasn't easy getting it back from the school nurse.