Massachusetts Delays Student Flu Vaccination Deadline

BOSTON — The push to get all Massachusetts students vaccinated for influenza by the end of the year hit an unexpected roadblock when the state Department of Public Health pushed back the flu shot deadline two months.

According to new guidance released Tuesday, students must be vaccinated for in-person, hybrid and remote learning as of Feb. 28. The guidance said new students entering schools must be vaccinated by March 31. Students entering schools after March 31 do not need to be vaccinated this school year.

Before the new guidance, school districts have pressed parents to get students vaccinated by Dec. 31. The new advisory means students could go through five months of the school year — and most of the winter flu season — without the vaccine.

The Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to a Patch request for the reasoning behind the deadline extension.

The guidance applies to students in kindergarten through high school, as well as college students under 30.

The state had said the mandatory vaccinations would help mitigate the coronavirus crisis.

The deadline delay came on the same day Gov. Charlie Baker declared sweeping new business capacity and gathering restrictions amid concerns of a post-holiday coronavirus spike.

Starting Saturday, all business, offices and restaurants must reduce to 25 percent capacity — in most cases not including employees — while gathering limits are reduced to 10 indoors and 25 outdoors.

The restrictions will last for at least two weeks, Baker said. They do not apply to schools.

"All school districts — including those with high (coronavirus) infection rates — can and should bring students back to the classroom," Baker said on Tuesday.

(MORE PATCH COVERAGE: How Latest Capacity Limits Will Affect MA Businesses)

The new flu vaccine guidance said the Feb. 28 deadline is for the 2020-21 school year only. The health department said the vaccine "is now a required school vaccine for school attendance and will be required as of December 31 for all students in kindergarten through grade 12 each school year."

All students are required to have the vaccine "regardless of whether the district is providing instruction in-person, or using a hybrid or remote learning model," the health department said.

Students who are homeschooled do not need to be vaccinated. Non-vaccinated students may not go into school buildings for sports, extracurricular activities "or any other reason," according to the health department.

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