Anyone who works with children, especially in childcare centers, is at high risk of coming into contact with a number of bacteria and viruses. Therefore, childcare workers should be up to date on vaccines including measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap), varicella (chickenpox), influenza, COVID-19 and hepatitis B. Because infants are at increased risk of suffering complications and death from pertussis infections (whooping cough), adults and teens who will be around them, including childcare providers, should be up to date on the Tdap vaccine.

Young children in childcare centers are commonly infected with hepatitis A virus. Whereas young children infected with hepatitis A virus often do not develop any symptoms of infection, the same cannot be said for adults who get infected. Childcare workers who have not previously had the hepatitis A vaccine may be recommended to get the vaccine or treatment if hepatitis A cases are diagnosed in their center. Hepatitis A virus can occasionally cause severe, and rarely fatal, infection of the liver.