With the start of a new school year approaching, parents face decisions about protecting their children from COVID-19. ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson offers advice for parents in a story published Wednesday in the Eureka Springs Independent newspaper.

COVID-19 vaccines are now available to children as young as 6 months. In deciding whether to get their kids vaccinated, parents should consider how vulnerable their household is, according to Thompson.

“As a parent thinking about vaccinating their children, they need to do a risk assessment, not just for the child, but the family,” Thompson tells reporter Becky Gillette. “If there is an adult at risk, if grandpa or grandma are living is with you, there are other family members at risk, or the child has chronic conditions that make it harder to fight off the virus, the benefits of the vaccinations go up.”

For information on the CDC’s recommended COVID-19 vaccine schedules, see our blog post.

Parents also need to make sure that before school begins their children have received all recommended routine vaccinations for diseases such as mumps, polio, and diphtheria. See our blog post for more information.