GET IMMUNIZATIONS
UP-TO-DATE BEFORE SCHOOL EXCLUSION DAY FEBRUARY 17
Parents must provide schools, child care facilities with
children's vaccine records
February 17 is School Exclusion Day, and the Oregon
Immunization Program is reminding parents that children will not be able to
attend school or child care starting that day if their records on file show
missing immunizations.
Under state law, all children in public and private schools,
preschools, Head Start and certified child care facilities must have up-to-date
documentation on their immunizations, or have an exemption.
"Immunization is the best way to protect children
against vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough and measles,"
said Stacy de Assis Matthews, school law coordinator in the Oregon Health
Authority Public Health Division. "It keeps schools and the entire
community safe and healthy."
Information for parents about updated vaccine requirements:
-- The hepatitis A vaccine, which protects against a
communicable viral infection, is a two-dose series required for children 18
months and older in child care, preschool and kindergarten through seventh
grade.
-- Parents of children with old exemptions on file signed
before March 2014 will need to submit updated documentation. If the child has
received the vaccines, the parent needs to turn in the immunization dates to
the school. If the parent wants a nonmedical exemption, the parent needs to
turn in a Vaccine Education Certificate showing that they've received education
about vaccines, either from a health care practitioner or from the online
vaccine education module. The parent also needs to sign a new Certificate of
Immunization Status. More information about exemptions can be found at the
division's vaccine exemption website at www.healthoregon.org/vaccineexemption.
If school and child care vaccination records are not
up-to-date, the child will be sent home. In 2015, local health departments sent
29,234 letters to parents and guardians informing them that their children
needed immunizations to stay in school or child care. A total of 4,666 children
were kept out of school or child care until the necessary immunization information
was turned in to the schools or child care facilities. Letters to parents will
be mailed on or before Feb. 3.
Parents seeking immunizations for their children should
contact their health care provider or local health department, or call
211Info--just dial 211. No one can be turned away from a local health
department because of the inability to pay for required vaccines. Pharmacists
can immunize children 7 and older. Parents should contact their neighborhood
pharmacy for details.
Additional information on school immunizations can be found
at the Immunization Program website at www.healthoregon.org/imm. Follow the Oregon
Immunization Program on Facebook.
