As children prepare to head back to school, making sure they are up to date on their immunizations is on the to-do list for many officials.

Some residents have voiced concerns about the screening and immunization process of children from the asylum-seeking population entering the school system.

Monroe County's Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Michael Mendoza is helping to set the record straight.

“So it is New York state law that children are to receive the age-appropriate vaccines prior to admission to school – period,” Mendoza said. “And so all of the children, whether they are asylum-seekers or residents of our county, will have to furnish proof that they are up to date with all of the required age-appropriate vaccinations in order to remain in our public schools.”

Mendoza says in Monroe County, asylum-seeking children are tested for both tuberculosis and COVID-19 upon arrival as a precaution.

“So we’re testing everybody here,” he said. “And that way we eliminate the question about what happened before they got here. And it’s frankly easier to screen them all again. And it’s probably warranted to screen them all again because we don’t know the details of their screening necessarily for all those days and weeks that they were not in Monroe County before they got here.”

Mendoza says there is an effort to make sure families are connected with primary care doctors and children receive the expected immunizations prior to beginning school.

If there are no records and it’s unclear what shots children have already had, Mendoza said they are repeating the necessary immunizations.

This week, New York state’s Commissioner of Education Dr. Betty Rosa and Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter reiterating to the public that the children of asylum-seekers are subject to the exact same immunization requirements that apply to every other student. There was also a comment in the letter stating that a child experiencing homelessness or housing instability needs to obtain immunizations the enrolling school must immediately step in and refer that child to a local agency that can help.