Aug. 28--New state Health Department recommendations say that, starting this year, students should receive a three-shot series of hepatitis B vaccine and one additional dose of mumps and chicken pox vaccine.
School officials say they anticipate few problems with compliance.
"(Parents) have been notified for well over a year that they were going to be in effect the beginning of this school year," said Barb Bierbower, school nurse at Ligonier Valley High. "We did a lot of educating parents and kids."
Children are supposed to receive a measles, mumps and rubella shot and the chicken pox vaccine at age 12-15 months. The new schedule recommends the second inoculation against the diseases at age 4-6 years.
Seventh-graders should have a Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) if it's been at least five years since their last tetanus immunization. They also should get the meningococcal meningitis vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the Tdap because the vaccine's effectiveness weakens over time. Pennsylvania has experienced an increase in cases of mumps and pertussis, or whooping cough, Secretary of Health Eli N. Avila said.
Pennsylvania recorded 763 pertussis cases in 2010, up from 468 in 2009. There were 63 mumps cases last year, compared to 11 in 2009.
People ages 16 to 21 have the highest rates of meningococcal disease, according to the CDC.
Parents will have until eight months from the start of the school year to get their child the appropriate vaccinations. They can opt out because of religious or personal objections.
Some parents don't get children vaccinated because of safety concerns. An extensive review issued last week by the Institute of Medicine found that vaccines overall are safe.
The review found evidence of 14 known side effects linked to various vaccines, but like other scientific reports, it found no evidence linking immunizations to autism or other problems such as Type 1 diabetes.
The Allegheny County Health Department has had the new vaccine recommendations in place since the 2009-10 school year.
"We did it because it was something that was being done across the country," department spokesman Guillermo Cole said. "We thought the state might adopt them when we did."
Yet even after two years of notifications, 3,000 Allegheny County students missed class time in 2009-10 because they did not have the vaccinations.
The state's eight-month grace period should make the transition smoother in other counties.
"I think once you make it mandatory and say if they're not vaccinated then they can be excluded, that's when the procrastinators will comply," Cole said.
About April, districts are likely to begin sending letters to parents letting them know that their child is in danger of being barred from school, said David Johnston, director of pupil services for Hempfield Area School District.
"Any district's going to have to look at that option," Johnston said. "Is that the last option? Most definitely. Does any district want to do that? No."
Lisa Rullo, coordinator of student services for Greensburg Salem School District, said she has received faxes throughout the summer from students' doctors updating their immunization records. She doesn't anticipate any problems getting all students to comply with the new recommendations.
"We knew this was coming. ... It almost seems like old hat," she said.
Recommended school immunizations
All students should have:
-- 4 doses of tetanus
-- 4 doses of diphtheria
-- 3 doses of polio
-- 2 doses of measles
-- 2 doses of mumps
-- 1 dose of rubella
-- 3 doses of hepatitis B
-- 2 doses of chicken pox or history of disease
By seventh-grade:
-- 1 dose meningococcal meningitis
-- 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (if 5 years have elapsed since last tetanus immunization)
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Health
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