As Turkish children return to crowded classrooms, health professionals urge families to verify immunisation records and complete missed doses to prevent outbreaks of both preventable and infection-related illnesses.
Families in Turkey are being urged to treat the first days of the new school term as a prompt to check immunisation cards, not simply buy uniforms and books. In comments carried by several Turkish news sites on 8 September 2026, Atlas University paediatrician Dr Şenay Pir Zengi said missed childhood doses should not be written off because a child is older, arguing that most gaps can still be closed with a catch-up schedule arranged through a family doctor. (bizimsivas.com.tr)
The warning comes as children and teenagers move back into crowded classrooms, school buses, canteens and dormitories, settings Zengi said make it easier for infections to circulate. She highlighted familiar respiratory viruses such as influenza, Covid-19, RSV, adenovirus and rhinovirus, but also flagged vaccine-preventable illnesses including whooping cough, measles, rubella, mumps and chickenpox. Reports carrying her comments also pointed to group A streptococcal infections, pneumococcal disease and meningococcal disease, while noting that tuberculosis remains a consideration in densely shared dormitory accommodation. (karar.com)
The risk, she said, is not confined to coughs and fevers. In shared eating and living spaces, Turkish outlets reported her as warning about hepatitis A, rotavirus and norovirus gastroenteritis, as well as salmonella and other food-borne infections. Through close personal contact, schools and halls of residence can also become a route for lice, scabies, impetigo, fungal skin infections, infectious conjunctivitis and hand-foot-and-mouth disease. (herkesduysun.com)
Zengi paired that message with a practical checklist for families and schools. Hands should be washed with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, she said, with alcohol-based sanitiser used where water is not available. Children should cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow; classrooms and dorm rooms should be aired regularly; and a child with a fever should not return until they have been without fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine. Towels, combs, bottles and similar personal items should not be shared, and schools should pay attention to safe water, food hygiene, sleep, balanced diets and smoke-free environments. Even so, she cautioned that “Yukarıdaki önlemlerin tamamı değerlidir; ancak hiçbiri aşının sağladığı özgül korumanın yerini tutmaz.” (herkesduysun.com)
That argument matters in Turkey because routine childhood vaccination already covers a wide range of serious infections. According to material published by the Turkish Health Ministry for World Immunisation Week in 2025, the national childhood programme protects against 13 diseases, including diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, rubella, mumps, tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis A and B, chickenpox, Hib and pneumococcal disease, and a six-in-one combination vaccine was introduced in April 2025. Zengi said the school enrolment period is a natural opportunity for parents to review records with a family physician and make up outstanding doses rather than assuming the window has passed. (hsgm.saglik.gov.tr)
Among the doses she said families should check first are the boosters due at ages four to six, the adolescent Td booster against tetanus and diphtheria, and any missing doses of the MMR vaccine, known in Turkey as KKK. Several of the reports stressed her view that measles activity in Turkey’s region and internationally makes full two-dose coverage especially important. That broader concern is borne out by the World Health Organization, which says children need two measles doses to ensure immunity and prevent outbreaks, and estimated that only 77% of the world’s children had received both doses in 2025. (aksiyon.com.tr)
She also gave more detailed advice on vaccines that are often missed or delayed. Hepatitis A, she said, should be completed as a two-dose course, but older children, adolescents and adults who were not vaccinated earlier can still start later; a delayed second dose does not mean restarting from the beginning. Seasonal flu vaccination can be given from six months of age, should be renewed every year, and begins offering protection after roughly a fortnight. For children aged six months to eight years who are receiving influenza vaccine for the first time, she said two doses at least four weeks apart are needed. (aksiyon.com.tr)
Outside the routine schedule, Zengi said families could also discuss rotavirus, meningococcal, seasonal flu and HPV vaccination with a clinician, particularly for teenagers heading into shared accommodation or children with individual risk factors. Turkish medical literature published this year notes that meningococcal, rotavirus and HPV vaccines are not part of the country’s national schedule, underscoring why these decisions often fall to one-to-one discussions in primary care. In the reports published on Tuesday, Zengi said HPV vaccination is given in two doses at ages nine to 14 and three doses from age 15 onwards, with the best protection achieved before sexual contact begins. She added that different vaccines can be given during the same visit, that a mild cold without fever is usually not a reason to postpone vaccination, and that parents with doubts should turn to paediatricians and family health centres rather than social media. (karar.com)
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
