Madison Reporter

Public Health Madison & Dane County, in collaboration with SSM Health, UW Health, Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), Verona Area School District (VASD), and Group Health Cooperative (GHC), is organizing a series of school vaccine clinics to ensure children are up to date on their immunizations as the new school year begins.

“Partnerships like this reflect our commitment to ensuring that every child in our community has access to illness-preventing and potentially life-saving vaccines,” said Janel Heinrich, director of Public Health Madison & Dane County. “By teaming up, we can make it easier for families to protect their children against preventable diseases as they return to the classroom this fall.”

Megan Timm, SSM Health Wisconsin Regional Director of Community Health, emphasized the importance of these efforts: “SSM Health is proud to come together with our community partners for these essential school vaccine clinics. By breaking down access barriers for our community members we are providing critical access and illness prevention for local students, their families, and the community as a whole.”

The clinics will offer all required school vaccines, including meningitis, pertussis, COVID-19, flu, and more. The vaccines are free for school-aged children 5 and older. Appointments are recommended and can be scheduled online. The clinic dates and locations are as follows:

- Monday, October 7: Mendota Elementary School (4002 School Rd, Madison) from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

- Monday, October 14: Leopold Elementary School (2602 Post Rd, Madison) from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

- Monday, October 15: Sugar Creek Elementary School (740 N Main St, Verona) from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

- Saturday, October 19: Holtzman Learning Center (333 Holtzman Rd., Madison) from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

- Monday, October 21: Holtzman Learning Center (333 Holtzman Rd., Madison) from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

- Saturday, October 26: Savanna Oaks Middle School (5890 Lacy Rd., Fitchburg) from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

The program covers children without insurance or those under specific plans such as BadgerCare or Quartz.

"We are deeply grateful for the collaboration between GHC, Public Health, SSM Health and UW Health," said MMSD Lead Nurse Coach Kari Stampfli. "For years we've seen great success in holding free vaccine clinics right in our schools. As we begin the 2024-25 school year we look forward to providing crucial vaccines directly in the community."

Verona Area School District Lead Nurse Rikki Conwell added that strong communities support strong schools. "This partnership is another example of the community and schools working together," she stated.

Lea Veltum of UW Health echoed these sentiments by emphasizing the importance of vaccinations in maintaining healthy schools and families during respiratory season.

A full list of required K-12 immunizations is available on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.