Parents of children about to start school need to be thinking of making sure their children’s immunizations are up to date. The list of things young school children need to be innoculated against seems to grow. Now children are to have shots for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B. Children entering kindergarten need to be immunized against chicken pox. The State Health Department recommends younger children get a pneumococcal vaccine against pneumonia and similar diseases. Immunizations against Hepatitis-A are recommended but not mandated. The Department’s Sue Denney says 98 percent of Missouri’s school children are immunized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the Immunization rate for children through 39 months is about 82 percent. But by the time they go to school, it’s 98 percent. Denny says the exemption for religious reasons is quite low, which is good for the overall health of Missouri’s school children.