LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools held its first of a series of vaccine clinics for its students and staff Tuesday. 

What You Need To Know

  • JCPS is making a push to get their students caught up to date on their vaccines

  • They are hosting a number of vaccine clinics during school days to do this

  • Shots for measles, flu, and COVID-19 are being offered

  • Around 11,000 students in the district are not up to date on their measles shot
JCPS hosts vaccine clinic at Iroquois High School (Jefferson County Public Schools)

The district is offering the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), flu, and COVID vaccines for free during the school day. This comes as an ongoing measles outbreak is affecting predominantly school-aged children in Ohio. 

JCPS district health manager Eva Stone says Louisville is an area of concern for a measles outbreak of its own. 

Stone explains around 11,000 students in the district are not up to date on their MMR vaccine. This is nearly a tenth of the students in the district. It’s a statistic that Stone says she is concerned about. 

“We have a lot of families that don’t have a place to go to get vaccines, we have uninsured students, we have families that don’t necessarily know how to navigate the health care system,” Stone said. 

Tuesday the district’s first vaccine clinic was held at Iroquois High School. They sent letters to families explaining their student needed a shot. 

“We would've liked to of seen a higher volume but this was our first one and so I think we’ll see more numbers as we go,” Stone said. 

Still, Stone said she recognized students understood the importance of getting these vaccines. 

“When you hear kids talking about protecting their families and their classmates, it is just very touching, because of them wanting to take responsibility to do something that will help others,” Stone said. 

On the importance of the measles vaccine, Stone wants parents to understand how contagious it can be. 

“It’s even more contagious than COVID, flu, some of the other illnesses that we have been dealing with,” Stone said. “So if a child is not vaccinated against measles and they are exposed to someone that has measles, they have a 90% chance of developing measles.”

JCPS will hold its next vaccine clinic at Marion C. Moore School next Wednesday, Jan. 25. 

They will hold future clinics at Newcomer Academy on Jan. 31 and Fern Creek High School on Feb. 7. 

In February, district officials say they plan on hosting a weekend vaccine clinic where they will offer several childhood vaccines. 

More vaccine clinic information can be found on the district’s website. 

Related Stories