It's time to be immunised! Especially if you're going abroad to school.

Babies, toddlers, and anyone in their early teens also need to keep up with their shots as they prevent diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough (there were three imported cases this year) and polio.

The Health Centre's aim is to have 100 percent coverage -- meaning everyone being up-to-date with their vaccinations. Right now they have 90 percent.

Hamilton Health Centre child health supervisor Diana Simons said for the last three months the centre has been bombarded with students going away to school needing a record of their shots.

"And if they become delinquent then they need to have all of their shots before they enter school and that can take quite a lot of catching up.

"Nowadays in colleges and universities abroad it is required that students have their hepatitis B shots,'' Ms Simons said.

She added: "The parent needs to have saved their child's records from their first shots so that we don't have to go looking for them, it saves time.

"If they haven't saved them that means we have to look up files, and call family doctors and if we can't find them in some cases they will have to have the shots again.'' Ms Simons said the schools abroad need to make sure the children have their shots because it saves them from being out of school with illnesses.

"Sometimes schools won't allow them in until they have them.

"Today alone, four parents came in needing their child's records and we had to call down to where our records are stored to get them faxed to us.

"It is also very important for babies to keep up with their shots because even though the diseases are not common today they are still around and this year alone we have had three imported cases of whooping cough.

"I guess being on an island your community can be free of diseases and it just takes one disease to come in. But with every vaccine you will get a few failures.'' Asked what happens when parents are delinquent in making sure their children have their shots Ms Simons said: "In our clinics during quieter moments we go through our files and send out cards letting parents/guardians know their child is due for a shot, if they don't come in the health visitor will go to their homes.'' She added that parents should want to protect their child and give them the best care available.

"They should start by immunising a child against the vaccine preventable diseases and at the moment we have vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, pertussus, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza type B, measles, mumps, rubella, and polio.'' Ms Simons also said before a child starts school they should go to their family doctor or the clinic for their five-year-old boosters.

"It is never to late to start,'' Ms Simons added.

Here are four dangerous diseases: WHOOPING COUGH: By far the most common of the diseases, it is caught from other children who have it. It causes long and distressing bouts of coughing.

These bouts can go on so long that a child finds it difficult to breathe and becomes exhausted.

The coughing often ends with the child being sick and, because food isn't being kept down, the child often loses weight.

Whooping cough can also cause convulsions, hemias, ear infection, pneumonia, bronchitis, and collapsed lungs. In some cases there may be permanent lung damage and occasionally brain damage.

DIPHTHERIA: Begins just like a sore throat but quickly develops into a serious illness which can last for weeks. It blocks the nose or throat, making it difficult and sometimes impossible for the child to breathe.

It also produces a poison which gets into the child's bloodstream and attacks the ear and nervous system.

TETANUS: Is caught when germs from the soil get into an open wound. It produces a poison which attacks the nervous system, causing painful muscle spasms. These spasms can happen in any muscle in the body but often they are in the jaw and neck, which is why tetanus used to be called "lockjaw''.

POLIOMYELITIS: Usually called polio, now only occurs occasionally but it is still a real risk. It attacks the nervous system and this can cause paralysis of the muscles. It can affect any muscle in the body.

If it affects the breathing muscles, a child may have to be helped to breathe artificially. It is affects the muscles in the legs, they may become weak or even paralysed and sometimes this may be permanent.