Shots and school

For vaccines, keep three questions separate: what your clinician recommends, what the medical schedule says and what Texas requires for school or child care. Then keep the record because the dates on it matter.

Keep the paperwork straight

• Keep one complete immunization record.
• Photograph the record after each visit.
• Ask which schedule your clinician follows.
• Separate medical recommendations from school-entry rules.
• Check the Texas school chart before registration.
• Ask which doses count if records come from another state.
• Start catch-up early when several doses are needed.
• Ask whether the clinic participates in TVFC.
• Bring Medicaid, CHIP or insurance information.
• Bring old records to a new pediatrician.
• Do not rely on a school portal as your only copy.
• Check exemption paperwork directly with Texas DSHS.
• Ask the clinician about questions specific to your child.
• Schedule the next dose before leaving when a series continues.

The fuller answer

Vaccines are one of the few parts of parenting with a paper trail, and in Texas the school will ask to see it. Here is what the schedules say, what Texas requires, and where to get shots at little or no cost. Your child's doctor is the person to talk through the details with — this page is so you walk in knowing the ground.

Three different questions

Parents can now encounter more than one national recommendation document, plus a separate Texas school-requirement chart. It helps to separate the questions.

1. What does my child's clinician or professional medical guidance recommend? The American Academy of Pediatrics published its own 2026 childhood and adolescent immunization schedule, which departs from the CDC's in places, so it is worth asking which one your child's practice follows. 2. What does current federal CDC guidance say? CDC continues to publish federal vaccine guidance and schedules. Because the federal recommendations changed in 2026, do not assume an older chart found in a search result is current. 3. What does Texas require for school or licensed child care? Texas DSHS publishes its own minimum attendance requirements under Texas law and rules.

Those are related questions. They are not the same question.

For the medical decision, ask your child's clinician which current recommendation source the practice follows and why. For school paperwork, use the current Texas DSHS requirement chart.

What Texas schools and child care require

Texas sets its own minimum requirements, and for the 2026–27 school year the Texas Department of State Health Services lists:

• Kindergarten through 6th grade: DTaP/Tdap 5 doses (4 if the 4th was given on or after the 4th birthday); polio 4 doses (3 if the 3rd was given on or after the 4th birthday); MMR 2 doses; hepatitis B 3 doses; chickenpox (varicella) 2 doses; hepatitis A 2 doses.
• 7th grade: everything above, plus a Tdap booster (if it's been 5 years since the last tetanus-containing dose) and 1 dose of meningococcal vaccine given on or after age 11.
• 8th to 12th grade: the same as 7th, except the Tdap booster is required only if it's been 10 years.
• Licensed child care and pre-K: DSHS publishes a separate schedule for children from birth to 43 months, which asks for 4 doses of DTaP, 3 of polio, 3 of hepatitis B, 3 of Hib, 4 of pneumococcal (PCV), 1 of MMR, 1 of chickenpox and 2 of hepatitis A by the end of that range. Ask your center what it needs on which date, or see the DSHS requirements page.

Exemptions, as the state describes them

• Conscientious exemption: a parent requests the official affidavit form from DSHS — online, by mail, by fax or in person (not by phone or email). Requests by mail take about three weeks; in person is same-day. The completed affidavit must be notarized and is valid for two years.
• Medical exemption: signed by a licensed MD or DO stating the vaccine would be harmful to the child's or a family member's health; valid one year unless the doctor states a lifelong condition.

Where to get vaccines at little or no cost

• Texas Vaccines for Children (TVFC) covers children from birth to 18 who are on Medicaid, uninsured, underinsured, or American Indian or Alaska Native. Many private pediatricians take part — find one with the TVFC provider map.
• Harris County Public Health gives TVFC vaccines to eligible children from birth through 18, including children on Medicaid or CHIP, uninsured children and underinsured children. Visits are by appointment, booked through HCPH by phone or email at the number on its immunization page, so plan a few days ahead rather than a school-morning walk-in.
• Your pediatrician — pediatricians in the Baytown area.

Keep the record card somewhere you'll find it in August. You will need it.

What counts as proof

The state is particular about paperwork. Under the DSHS rules, an acceptable record carries the signature or stamp of a physician or his or her designee, or of public health personnel, and shows the month, day and year each dose was given. An official immunization record generated by a state or local health authority that shows those dates also counts.

DSHS also describes provisional enrollment for kindergarten through 12th grade: a student may enroll provisionally if he or she has received at least one dose of each required vaccine and goes on to complete each series on schedule. If your child is behind, that is the conversation to have with the school nurse and the pediatrician together, before the first day.

If you have moved from another state or country, or the card was lost, ask your child's previous doctor's office for a copy first. A new pediatrician can also tell you which doses count and which are still due.

In and around Baytown

The Harris Health Baytown Health Center, at 1602 Garth Road, lists pediatrics among its specialties, with hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to noon on the second Thursday of the month. It has a lab and a pharmacy on site and free parking. The center's page does not list immunizations by name, so ask when you call whether it can give the shots your child needs.

For a regular pediatric home, Texas Children's Pediatrics Baytown, at 7599 Garth Road, Suite 600, lists weekday hours of 8 to 5. Baytown Pediatrics, at 1113 W. Baker Road, lists weekday mornings, 8 to noon, and says on its own site that it sees children from birth to 18. Hummingbird Pediatrics, at 2306 N. Alexander Drive, lists immunizations among its services and weekday hours of 9 to 5. Shannon Kluppel MD, at 1000 E. James Street, lists weekday hours from 8:30 with Wednesday ending at noon, and Villar-Lamug Pediatrics, at 1610 James Bowie Drive, lists weekday mornings. Hours are as we hold them, and a practice's front desk can tell you which days it schedules well-child visits and shots. The full list is on pediatricians in the Baytown area.

Before you go

• Ask for a printed copy of the immunization record at every shot visit, and photograph it, because the date on each dose is what the school checks.
• Call before you go, since HCPH visits are by appointment and pediatric offices schedule shots differently from sick visits.
• Ask the practice or clinic whether it takes part in Texas Vaccines for Children if your child has Medicaid, has no insurance or has insurance that does not cover vaccines.
• Bring the insurance or Medicaid card, a photo ID for the parent or guardian and any records from a previous doctor.
• Start well before August, because a series takes several visits and the school will ask for the dates.

Sources

CDC, current Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule resources; AAP, "Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule: United States, 2026" (Pediatrics; AAP schedule resources); Texas DSHS, school and child care requirements and the 2026–27 requirements chart; Texas DSHS, exemptions; Texas DSHS Region 7, TVFC; Harris County Public Health, Immunizations.

En español

Vacunas y escuela: conviene separar tres preguntas: la de su pediatra, la de los CDC y la de Texas. La Academia Americana de Pediatría publicó su propio calendario 2026, que en algunos puntos difiere del de los CDC. Texas (DSHS) fija los requisitos para escuela o guardería. Para 2026–27, de kínder a 6.º grado: DTaP 5 dosis, polio 4, triple viral 2, hepatitis B 3, varicela 2 y hepatitis A 2; en 7.º se agregan Tdap y meningococo. El comprobante lleva firma o sello y la fecha de cada dosis. Exenciones: la de conciencia se notariza y dura dos años; la médica la firma un médico y dura un año. A bajo costo: Texas Vaccines for Children, para niños con Medicaid, CHIP, sin seguro o con seguro insuficiente; Harris County Public Health, con cita.