Twenty-six students in the Brinnon area received immunizations thanks to vaccines donated by the state Department of Health in partnership with Jefferson Healthcare, Jefferson County Public Health, the Community Health Improvement Plan and the Brinnon School District. “Getting children immunized for the vaccine-preventable diseases protects not only that child but helps slow the spread of these diseases among the entire school population,” said John Nowak, co-executive director of CHIP. “We appreciate the efforts of everyone to increase the rate of immunized children in the Brinnon Schools.” Staff from the Jefferson Healthcare Medical Group on Nov. 14 administered 20 influenza vaccines, four meningococcal vaccines, four HPV vaccines, four HepA vaccines, four DTAP vaccines, two Tdap vaccines, two MMRV vaccines and one IPV vaccine. The Brinnon PTA and school staff provided students with cookies, water and stickers while they received the vaccines. Public health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, have vaccine schedule recommendations for infants, children, adolescents and adults to promote health and wellness. The recommended vaccines are administered to prevent infectious diseases and are highly effective at stopping the spread of otherwise dangerous and deadly illnesses, a news release from Jefferson Healthcare stated. The WHO estimates 2.5 million deaths can be avoided every year throughout the world with vaccinations. In addition, if immunizations were 100 percent effective and 100 percent of the people followed recommendations, one out of seven cases of child mortality could be prevented, especially in developing countries, but also in places such as Washington state, the news release stated. Low vaccination rates a cause for concern While childhood vaccinations protect children when they are most vulnerable, Jefferson County ranks 30th in 39 Washington state counties with complete kindergarten immunizations, and less than half of the kindergarten students start school with the full set of required immunizations, the news release stated. Throughout the past century, diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella have been essentially eradicated by following immunization orders in the United States, according to the news release.