New Vaccine Rules For Pennsylvania Students: What You Need To Know

If you have school-aged children in Pennsylvania, there are some important new rules you should be aware of regarding vaccinations and a student's eligibility to attend school this fall. The Pennsylvania Department of Health recently revised the immunization requirements for students, dramatically reducing the amount of time a parent has to complete the required vaccinations at the start of the school year.

Effective for the 2017-18 school year, the provisional period — the window of time a parent has to ensure their child has been vaccinated — has been shortened from eight months to five days.

That means while parents previously had as long as eight months to make sure their students were up-to-date on shots, they must now be done within the first five days of school. If a student's shots are not completed within those first five days, the student must be excluded from school, according to the new rules.

If the student is in the middle of a series and it is too soon for the next dose, a parent must provide the school nurse with a plan for immunizations. That plan must be signed by a doctor and provided within the first five days of school, the rules state.

If the student has incomplete immunizations and no medical plan or approved exemption, the student must be excluded from school, under the new rules. Acceptable exemptions include medical reasons, religious beliefs or philosophical/strong moral or ethical conviction.

Here is the vaccination schedule for students, as dictated by the Pennsylvania Department of Health:

Students entering kindergarten need:

• 4 doses of tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (1 dose on or after 4th birthday)
• 4 doses of polio (4th dose on or after 4th birthday and at least 6 months after previous dose given)
• 2 doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)
• 3 doses of hepatitis B (Hep B)
• 2 doses of varicella or evidence of immunity

Students entering 7th grade need:

• 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap)
• 2 doses meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4) (First dose prior to entry into 7th grade, a second dose is required at age 16 or prior to entry into 12th grade. If the student has already received the first dose after age 16, only one dose is required.)