If your children are not up to date, now is the time to get it done. The back-to-school checklist is seemingly endless.
"Starting to do school supplies. Getting kids ready so they can start getting up early again. And thinking about the kinds of things we wanna pack for lunch," said Cristina Kingston, a mother of two and resident of Los Feliz.
But when it comes to vaccines, she believes she's got it covered.
"I think my daughter needed a couple at her most recent appointment. I'm not sure if my son has his coming up, but whatever they need for school they will be getting," said Kingston.
After a series of shots during the first few years of life, the next round needs to happen before kids enter kindergarten.
"The DTaP vaccine which is diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, which is whooping cough, and then the MMR and chickenpox vaccine," said Dr. Sabiha Kanchwala, Medical Director of Vaccines at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
The MMR contains a measles booster. She said kids missing these shots are why U.S. infections are at a 33-year record high.
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Even though California has confirmed more measles cases in 2025 than the previous year, health officials say it's still relatively small compared to the rest of the country.
"Because the vaccine had done such a good job in preventing measles," Kanchwala said.
In 7th grade, the next mandatory shot is a TDaP booster if a child had not completed the five shot series.
"And there's two other vaccines that we recommend before or around 7th grade as well and that's the HPV vaccine and the meningitis vaccine," she said.
In May, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends the COVID vaccine for healthy children. Pediatricians still strongly encourage getting it plus the flu shot every fall. It's something Kingston stays on top of.
"I'm not interested in getting viruses and missing work and then missing school and being out for a week and being miserable. We do our best to avoid that," she said.