Kern County Public Heath holds vaccine clinics for children

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The 2025 school year is here, and families filled the Kern County Public Health office to get their child’s vaccines up to date.

There are a few vaccines that are required in order to go to school, some are polio, chicken pox, and the t-dap vaccine-which protects against Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis–all being offered at the public health immunization clinic.

“A lot of parents are trying to get their kids finished up at this right time, a lot of our healthcare providers are impacted, so it can be really busy this time of the year for them,” said Kimberly Hernandez, the division director of health services

In addition to the required shots, the clinic also offers recommended vaccines, shots that are not required to go to school, but recommended by healthcare professionals, “We really encourage people to go to their healthcare provider, to go to your pediatrician, to talk to them about your questions, your concerns, what your specific child needs,” said Hernandez.

The only exemptions available for students are medical exemptions, there are no religious exemptions in California, since 2016.

A tour of the clinic takes you down a long hallway to a check-in table, that leads to a big waiting room, where families are seated waiting for their child to be called. Many blue canvas walls were set up, with different healthcare professionals applying the vaccinations.

In station 4, licensed vocational nurse Jasmin Kraft used a cooler to keep the vaccines at a safe temperature, “Your tetanus vaccine, your hepatitis vaccine, your polio, those are all stored, and the reason why they’re stored is because we want to keep them within a certain range to keep the viability of the vaccine, it’s preventative care it’s basically helping our kids stay safe at school and for the community.”

The clinic is located at 1800 Mt. Vernon Ave., and is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The clinic ends August 14, so make sure to get an appointment, since walk-ins are not guaranteed to get the shots.

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