School Exclusion Day is February 18

Parents must provide schools, child care facilities with children’s immunization records

The Oregon Immunization Program is reminding parents that children will not be able to attend school or child care starting February 18 – School Exclusion Day – if their records on file show missing immunizations.

State law requires that all children in public and private schools, preschools, Head Start and certified child care facilities have up-to-date documentation on their immunizations, or have an exemption.

“Immunization is an effective way to keep schools and the entire community healthy,” said Stacy de Assis Matthews, school law coordinator in the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division. “We want to make sure children are fully protected against vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough and measles.”

Parents need to know about this updated vaccine requirement:

-- 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 sixth grade.

If school and child care vaccination records are not up-to-date, the child will be sent home. In 2014, local health departments sent 32,345 letters to parents and guardians informing them that their children needed immunizations to stay in school or child care. A total of 5,227 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 February 4, 2015.

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 11 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 at www.facebook.com/OregonImmunize.

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