New youth vaccines required
The Fairfax County Times
By: Kali Schumitz
08/22/2006
State legislators this year added to the list of vaccines that children are required to get in order to go to any school, preschool or daycare in the state.
The Fairfax County Health Department is offering free doses of the Tdap vaccine for rising sixth-graders at various locations through Sept. 23.
Visit www.fcps.edu/news/vaccine.htm or call 703-246-2411 for details.
The new rules are intended to follow recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control, according to the text of the code that went into effect July 1.
Students entering sixth grade must get a booster of the Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, if it has been at least five years since the child has received a vaccine containing tetanus, according to the new code.
All students, regardless of grade level, are now required to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, which involves a series of three shots spaced over about four months.
These are in addition to the already required vaccines for chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella and polio, as well as pneumococcal 7-valent (PVC) and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).
Although parents are generally required to show proof of immunization to register their children for school, there is a provision in state law that allows parents to refuse to immunize a child for religious reasons. This right goes away, however, if there is an outbreak of a disease.
Parents also may avoid the immunization rules if they show proof from a physician that a vaccine would harm the child's health.
