As summer comes to a close, parents are beginning to prepare students to go back to school, and for some children, that means getting required vaccinees and booster shots.

To help make sure all of the youth in Dallas County are ready to go back, the Dallas County Health Department is holding a back to school shot clinic.

“It’s a back to school clinic where we try to get those children that needs those shots that they have to have before they start,” said Crystal Blackmon, a registered nurse at the health department. “They have to have their shots prior to school, so what we try to do is open the clinic so that we can get all the kids in that are going back to school before school starts.”

The free clinic will be held Tuesday, July 14 from 1-4 p.m. at the health department.

Blackmon said parents need to bring records of their children’s previous shots, along with any insurance cards. She said although the department will be able to schedule appointments for children that cannot make it to the clinic, the easiest way to get in and out of the door is to come during the allotted time period.

“On the day that we’re doing the immunization clinic, they can walk in. They don’t have to have an appointment, and we’ll get them that way,” Blackmon said. “We close down the other part of the clinic that we do, so we don’t have other patients. It’s just the people that want to get their shots done.”

According to Blackmon, the main children needing the shots are those entering kindergarten and those entering sixth grade.

“Mainly for the 11-year-olds, it’s the tetanus shot and the meningococcal conjugate, and we also encourage them to get the HPV vaccine, which is the vaccine that helps prevent cervical cancer,” Blackmon said.

“For the 4- and 5-year-olds, a polio shot if they hadn’t had their measles, mumps and rubella [vaccines], and their chickenpox shot, we try to get those to them as well.”

The shots are required by the state, and schools must check to see if students are up to date on their vaccines.

“It is required that they have it, so a lot of kids are missing days of school if they don’t have it because once they check the blue slip and find out that they don’t have it, they won’t let them come back to school until they get it,” Blackmon said. “By that time, the clinic is booked, and we have an overflow of people trying to get in.”