VACCINATIONS

records showed they weren’t up-to-date on their shots for measles, mumps and rubella, or for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

Joe Hollman, a spokesman for the state health department, said the agency plans to reach out later this month to parents of older and younger children who are behind on their routine vaccinations.

Last year, the Denver Health team partnered with 11 schools in the fall and 16 in the spring to bring shots to areas with low vaccination rates, said Lucy Devaney, an Americorps volunteer acting as immunization outreach and education coordinator in Denver. The clinics make it easier to catch kids up, because their parents don’t have to worry about taking off work, she said.

Getzy Martinez, who teaches at Clayton Early Learning, said that the mobile event Friday was convenient and allowed her and daughter Lylah Salazar to avoid waiting rooms full of sick people. Lylah, who is almost 2 and attends preschool at Clayton, only had to take one shot, for COVID- 19, and rapidly got over the pinch when offered a lollipop.

“It just made me feel better that she can get it here,” Martinez said.

While the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t required for school, it’s a good idea for parents to get it for their kids, O’leary said. While most kids don’t have severe symptoms from COVID-19, the same is true for some other vaccine- preventable diseases, including polio.

“COVID is a lot more severe in kids than some of the other diseases we vaccinate for,” he said.

The morning started slowly, with no one seeking routine vaccinations from the blue canopies on the campus’s lawn in the first hour. By the end of the day, they’d given children a combined 19 vaccines for COVID- 19, but only three routine shots. Adults who’d missed shots or needed boosters also received a combined 14 doses.

It wasn’t a bad turnout, but on the busiest days, they can see more than 100 patients, said Denver Health spokeswoman Amber D’angelo.

Devaney said she thought people might be experiencing some “vaccine fatigue” after hearing about COVID19 shots, making them less likely to seek out routine vaccinations.

The routine shots “are just as important as the COVID vaccine,” she said.