Pennsylvania officials plan to revise the immunization regulations for school children.
Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy and Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera announced last week that they hope to change state regulations that require Pennsylvania children to get immunized against certain diseases in order to attend school. Both officials said they are pushing the new revisions to ensure all students are better protected from illness.
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Provided by the Department of Health and Department of Education:
The current regulations bar children from entering school if they are missing the first dose of a required single or multi-dose vaccine. Under the proposed changes, these students will still be barred from attending school until they have received the first dose.
The proposed changes will now require students to receive their final dose or, if the medical schedule does not allow, a medical certificate that includes a plan for completing the multi-dose immunization within the first five school days.
The proposal also changes some of the state’s vaccination requirements, such as requiring a pertussis vaccine and a dose of meningococcal vaccine for students before entering 12th grade.
The departments also are proposing to change the date by which schools are required to submit immunization reports, from October 15 of each school year to December 31, and to require reporting electronically. This change allows for more accurate reports and more time for schools to gather information.
The changes would apply to children attending public, private, parochial, and non-public schools (including vocational schools, intermediate units, special education and home education programs, cyber schools, and charter schools) in the states.
“The current eight-month provisional window for immunization presents a very real risk for children to become infected and potentially spread preventable, communicable diseases to others,” Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy said in a statement. “It is critical that we work together to ensure Pennsylvania’s children are healthy, and ensuring children have a medically appropriate path to being fully immunized will go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.”
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Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said health kids means better performance in schools.
Students who are uninsured and underinsured are able to visit the Department of Health’s state health centers or local health departments to get the required vaccines.
The Department of Health has put together a FAQ page on immunizations. For more information, click here.
