Public Health's Immunization Program aims to assist all King County residents in attaining optimal health through knowledge of and access to immunizations. Are you a parent looking for information about vaccinating your child? A health care provider needing the most current vaccine guidelines? Or a traveler looking for recommended immunizations for an upcoming trip abroad? If so, you'll find all of the information you need here. Click on the links below to get started!
(Video courtesy of the CDC. Adobe Flash Player is required to play video in your browser.)
Health care provider information Read more about the Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program, provider education and training, recommended immunization schedules, precautions and contraindications, and other helpful information. Also, read our current or back issues of Vac-Scene and Epi-Log newsletters and order clinic and patient materials.
Infant, child, and adolescent immunizations Vaccinating your children is one of the most important things you can do as a parent or guardian to keep them safe and healthy. See the recommended immunization schedules for infants, children, and adolescents as well as the required vaccinations for Washington State school students.
Adult immunizations Getting immunized is a lifelong, life-protecting job. See the recommended schedule for adult immunizations.
Vaccine safety Vaccine safety is an issue of great importance to everyone. This information is provided to help you understand some of the common issues and questions surrounding this critical topic.
Travel immunizations Public Health - Seattle & King County offers timely information about health-related risks while traveling abroad. Travel services are available by appointment only at Downtown Public Health Center.
Occupational immunizations Employees should ensure they are properly immunized against diseases that can spread because of the work they do.
Public Health resources
In keeping with the mission of Public Health - Seattle & King County, our goal is to promote and protect the health of the public through prevention and control of communicable diseases. One of the ways we do this is by promoting and facilitating immunization of susceptible children and adults against vaccine preventable disease. These diseases include:
Community health data A set of indicators measuring the health of King County residents. It provides a broad array of comprehensive, population-based data with the emphasis on relying on data about the entire community to look at multiple determinants of health. Specific data related to immunizations include:
Seasonal influenza ("flu") vaccine recommendations for the 2012-13 flu season
Influenza spreads readily from person to person in schools, workplaces and homes. Everyone over 6 months of age should get the annual flu vaccine to prevent sickness, unnecessary healthcare visits, hospitalizations and deaths from influenza.
This year, a single flu vaccine provides protection against three strains of influenza--the H1N1 strain that caused the illness in 2009 and later seasons, and 2 other flu viruses that caused illness last season. People should get vaccinated now, as soon as the vaccine is available from their healthcare provider or pharmacy - protection lasts throughout the flu season.
Lancet accepts MMR study 'false', BBC News article regarding The Lancet medical journal which originally published the discredited research linking autism and MMR has issued a full retraction of the paper.
