You remember the joys of summer — a time when kids can relax and forget about homework for a little bit. Well, we must interrupt your summer with a little homework in the form of back-to-school vaccinations and physicals.
At Forest Urgent Care, our board-certified physicians, Dr. Waiho Lum and Dr. Ping Wong, have a singular goal — to provide the community with the healthcare services they need. And, for kids, those needs often include vaccinations and school or sports physicals.
Instead of scrambling at the last minute to take care of these important health visits, tackle them now so your back-to-school list is that much smaller.
Let’s first cover some of the vaccinations that you need to get for your child if they’re in New York City schools or child care. In brief, any child aged 2 months to 18 years should be immunized against:
These vaccination requirements are for kids in any kind of school or care setting, from day care on up through high school, public or private.
If you need any of these vaccines for your child, we’ve got you covered. In fact, we can provide additional vaccines at the same time, such as flu and COVID vaccines, which can protect your entire family from common viral respiratory infections.
And if you think that vaccines aren’t important, please note that measles was all but eradicated in the United States in 2000. Since that time, it has crept back in and there have been nearly 1,300 cases of measles in 2025 so far.
When it comes to requirements for physicals, there are a couple. For starters, kids in the public school system in NYC need to have school physicals for:
These physicals cover the basics, such as existing health conditions and major risk factors. We also screen for health issues, such as sickle cell anemia, lead exposure, and tuberculosis. In addition, we check other areas that are important in the school environment, such as vision and hearing.
If your child needs a physical for sports, we need to do these annually before your child can participate. These visits cover everything we just mentioned above, plus we make sure that your child is physically able to participate in their sport of choice.
To give you a better idea about what we cover during a school or sports physical, follow this link to the form we use.
While you’re still enjoying the warm days of summer, we urge you to carve out a morning or afternoon to come and see us for your child’s vaccination and school physical needs.
While you’re welcome to schedule an appointment at our clinic in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, you can also walk in seven days a week during office hours, which are 8am to 7pm Monday through Friday and 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
