New vaccination requirements for incoming 6th grade students will have parents needing to get their students vaccinated before school starts later this month. The state requires all 6th grade students to get one dose each of Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (or T-dap) vaccine, as well as one dose of the Meningococcal (ma-NING’-go-cock-al) vaccine, both on or after their 11th birthday.
In Madison, there will be a free distribution of the vaccines during a Madison Area Points of Dispensing (or POD) held at one of Madison Central School District’s registration days next week. On Tuesday, August 9th, from 1:00 until 7:00 p.m., any students in need of the two vaccines will be able to get them at registration at Madison High School.
As part of the POD, all 11-through-18-year-old students who are in need of the vaccine can receive it Tuesday at the high school, and no appointments are necessary.
This event serves as the annual Madison Area POD exercise. Agencies participating in Tuesday’s POD include Lake County, South Dakota Community Health Services, the City of Madison, Madison Regional Health System, Madison Central School District, Dakota State University, Golden Living Center, the American Red Cross, and several surrounding Lake County volunteer fire departments.