News Release
September 14, 2005
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has opened a temporary call center to assist school personnel, physicians and parents in getting copies of immunization records for children who came to Texas from Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana because of Hurricane Katrina.
DSHS has obtained direct access to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals' statewide immunization registry and will contact registries in Alabama and Mississippi on behalf of requestors.
School personnel, physicians and parents may call the DSHS center at 1-800-252-9152 to request records. Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. The registries in the evacuees' home states may not contain records for all children vaccinated. Copies of records found by DSHS will be faxed or mailed to requestors. Requestors also will be notified if records are not found.
The child's full name, date of birth and gender and the full name of the parent or guardian will be needed to process requests. There is no charge for the service.
School personnel may download an online roster form allowing them to fax requests for records for all children enrolled in their schools. The form is available online at www.ImmunizeTexas.com .
A fax form for use by physicians and parents in requesting individual records is available on the same site.
Parents and guardians of children in school are encouraged to coordinate records requests with school personnel to reduce the number of duplicate searches.
DSHS officials said the service is expected to significantly reduce the number of kids who would need to be revaccinated.
-30-
( News media: for more information contact Doug McBride, DSHS Press Officer, Austin, 512-458-7524.)