Vaccinations/Immunizations

LC State places a high priority on preventing the spread of infectious diseases such as influenza, meningitis, pertussis (whooping cough), HPV (human papillomavirus), hepatitis B, measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), chicken pox (varicella), and diphtheria.  All LC State students, full and part-time, are eligible to utilize services at Student Health, located in the Sam Glenn Complex, Room 205.

Other infectious diseases that are common in group settings, such as college dorms, are tuberculosis, scabies, and MRSA.

The Idaho State Board of Education requires that post-secondary institutions in Idaho provide current information on vaccine-preventable disease to each student at the time of admission or enrollment for classes. The Idaho Immunization Program has developed this document to serve as an informational resource to Idaho’s post-secondary institutions and students attending these institutions.

To promote the health and well-being of the campus community, Student Health Services offers preventive information on these diseases, as well as supplying many immunizations that are available for specific diseases. Although Lewis-Clark State College does not require students to have vaccinations as a condition of enrollment, we strongly encourage these vaccinations to protect the students, staff, and faculty of this campus community.

Travel, along with other common vaccinations, are available through the North Central District Health Department.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American College Health Association (ACHA) guidelines have recommended that college freshman living in dormitories receive the meningococcal vaccine.

CDC vaccine recommendations are developed using an explicit evidence-based method based on the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.  Key factors considered in development of recommendations include balance of benefits and harms, type or quality of evidence, values and preferences of the people affected, and health economic analyses.

• Category A (Universal) recommendations are made for all persons in an age- or risk-factor-based group.
• Category B (Permissive) recommendations are made for individual clinical decision making.  Specifically, they are used in the context of clinician-patient interaction to determine if vaccination may be appropriate for that patient.
• Evidence tables are used to summarize the benefits and harms and the strengths and limitations of the body of evidence.

The diseases vaccines prevent can be dangerous, or even deadly. Vaccines: 

• reduce the risk of infection by working with the body's natural defenses to help them safely develop immunity to disease.
• help develop immunity by imitating an infection, but this "imitation" infection does not cause illness. Instead it causes the immune system to develop the same response as it does to a real infection so the body can recognize and fight the vaccine-preventable disease in the future. Sometimes, after getting a vaccine, the imitation infection can cause minor symptoms, such as fever.  Such minor symptoms are normal and should be expected as the body builds immunity.

Like any medication, vaccines can cause side effects. The most common side effects are mild. On the other hand, many vaccine-preventable disease symptoms can be serious, or even deadly.

The side effects from vaccines are almost always minor (such as redness and swelling where the shot was given) and go away within a few days. If you experience a reaction at the injection site, use a cool, wet cloth to reduce redness, soreness, and swelling.

Serious side effects after vaccination, such as severe allergic reaction, are very rare and doctors and clinic staff are trained to deal with them. Pay extra attention for a few days after vaccination. If you see something that concerns you, call your doctor.

The recommended Category A immunization schedule for adults is approved by the Centers for Disease Control and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

LC State's Student Policy 5.107 Notification of a Reportable Communicable Disease describes how LC State will notify the Student Body, Faculty Staff and Community of Communicable Disease on campus.

For individual program requirements go to Nursing & Health Science.

Please consult your clinician regarding these vaccines. Required vaccines are available at Student Health Services.  Please call (208) 792-2251 for information.