August means squeezing in the last beach days, shopping for school supplies and getting everyone back on a schedule. It is also National Immunization Awareness Month, making this a good time to add one more item to the back-to-school checklist: make sure your child’s vaccinations are up to date.
With all the recent discussion about vaccine recommendations at the federal level, parents may understandably be wondering what has changed and what it means for children heading back to school in New Jersey.
Here is the most important thing to know: New Jersey’s immunization requirements for school and childcare attendance remain in place and have not changed as a result of recent federal actions. The New Jersey Department of Health reaffirmed that position earlier this year. Visit nj.gov to learn more.
For students entering kindergarten or first grade, New Jersey requires vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, commonly given as DTaP, along with polio, measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis B. Older students also have requirements for Tdap and meningococcal vaccination. The exact number of doses can depend on a child’s age and previous vaccination history, so parents should check with their pediatrician or school nurse rather than trying to sort through the schedule themselves.
Children who attend childcare or preschool have additional age specific requirements. For example, New Jersey requires an annual flu vaccine by November 30 for children six months and older who are enrolled in childcare or preschool.
Why does all of this matter? Schools are perfect environments for infections to spread. Children spend hours together in classrooms, cafeterias, buses, locker rooms and after school activities. They share supplies, touch the same surfaces and, as every parent knows, are not always perfect at covering coughs or washing their hands.
Vaccination provides protection before a child is exposed. Diseases such as measles, whooping cough, meningococcal disease and chickenpox can sometimes be dismissed as illnesses of the past or simply part of childhood. But these infections can lead to serious complications, hospitalization and, in rare cases, death. Vaccination has dramatically reduced the amount of illness caused by many vaccine preventable diseases.
It also protects more than the individual child. High vaccination rates help reduce the opportunity for infections to spread to babies who are too young to receive certain vaccines, people with weakened immune systems and others who may be especially vulnerable.
There have been some changes at the federal level, which is where some of the confusion comes in. In January 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the way it organizes its childhood and adolescent immunization recommendations. Vaccines are now divided into three categories: those recommended for all children, those recommended for certain higher risk groups, and those considered through shared decision making between families and health care providers. Learn more at cdc.gov.
The vaccines remaining in the federal category recommended for all children include protection against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, HPV and chickenpox.
There have also been specific federal changes involving other vaccines. COVID vaccination is now handled through individual or shared clinical decision making rather than a universal recommendation. Federal guidance surrounding the hepatitis B birth dose has also changed for babies born to mothers who test negative for hepatitis B. Parents and clinicians may now use shared decision making about when to begin the series in those cases. Babies whose mothers test positive or whose hepatitis B status is unknown should still receive the birth dose along with hepatitis B immune globulin.
Those federal changes, however, do not eliminate New Jersey’s school vaccination requirements. For example, hepatitis B vaccination continues to be required for New Jersey school attendance, with three doses or an approved two dose series required. That distinction is important. Federal recommendations provide clinical guidance, while states establish vaccination requirements for school attendance.
If your child has fallen behind, do not panic or assume the entire series needs to be started again. Catch up schedules allow children to continue where they left off in many circumstances. Your pediatrician can review the record and determine exactly what is needed.
Back-to-school season is already busy enough. Checking vaccination records now can prevent a last-minute scramble when school forms are due.
More importantly, immunizations are about much more than paperwork. They are one of the best tools we have to protect our children, their classmates and our communities from illnesses we know how to prevent. So along with the backpacks, sneakers and notebooks, schedule that annual checkup, pull out the immunization record and have a conversation with your child’s health care provider.
A healthy school year is a great way to start the year.
Robin Stoloff is an award-winning health reporter in South Jersey. A former TV reporter, she now hosts Living Well with Robin Stoloff, Sunday mornings at 10 am on Lite 96.9 WFPG.
