Parents get reminder on vaccination rules

Associated Press

Hawai'i students entering the seventh grade this fall must receive vaccinations before reporting to class or they will be sent home, state health officials said yesterday.

The state Department of Health launched the "Vax to School" media program to inform parents and students of each the new requirements.

Starting with the upcoming school year, each new seventh-grader cannot attend classes unless the student has undergone immunization for hepatitis B with three shots over at least six months; received two injections of a combination vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella; and received at least one vaccination for chicken pox.

Students must bring documentation — a "7th Grade Student Immunization Record" with the signature of a doctor or a signed note from the doctor saying that the student has started but not yet completed the required immunizations or that the doctor doesn't have a supply of vaccine and the student will be recalled when the vaccine is restocked, the Health Department said.

"The new law is an opportunity to ensure that all children in Hawai'i entering their teens are protected," said Dr. Paul Effler, head of the Health Department's Communicable Disease Division. "It is important that parents do this now and not wait until doctors' offices get busy during the summer."

New immunization rules are in effect also for children entering preschool/kindergarten and for those otherwise entering a Hawai'i school for the first time.