Clover Park Students Must Be Up to Date On Vaccines By First Day of School

As far as back-to-school tasks go, it’s not the most pleasant – but it’s definitely the most necessary.

Students in the Clover Park School District must be up to date on their immunizations by the first day of school, Sept. 7, or they will not be admitted.

Among the vaccines required for attendance in kindergarten through 12^th grade are Hepatitis B; Polio; Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis; MMR; and Varicella. Documentation of all vaccines must include month, date and year.

“Basically, it’s no shots, no school,” said Susan Keller, R.N., managing nurse for CPSD. “They need to be completely immunized by the standards from the Department of Health.”

Bridget Vandeventer, communications director for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, said that they try to make it as easy as possible for people to get their families – adults and children – vaccinated.

“It’s one of the most important things you can do for your child’s health,” she said. “And it’s not too late to do it.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law Senate Bill 5005, which allows parents to seek exemptions to their children being vaccinated – but only after seeking qualified medical counsel. Previously, parents could simply opt out, and concerns had been raised over the reasons for doing so.

“We found that a lot claimed it out of convenience,” said Vandeventer, adding that Washington has the highest exemption rate in the nation. “I don’t want them (to seek an exemption) to avoid making a doctor’s appointment or finding the records.”

Keller said that some CPSD schools will not release classroom lists to parents whose children are not up to date on immunizations on the first day. Until their child gets the vaccines – or is declared exempt – they will not be informed of whose class they are in.

“Some people put it off, but we have gone through trainings with our secretaries and health educators to go over the records pretty thoroughly,” she said.

Keller said that while it is ideal for families to go to their primary-care provider – since they have their medical records – they can also get vaccinated at multiple free clinics run by the health department. Parents must bring their child’s vaccine records to all clinics.

Free clinics will be held at the Franciscan Lakewood WIC office, 11216 Bridgeport Way S.W. from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30-3 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2, 6 and 9. Appointments can also be made most days at Mary Bridge Children’s Health Center in Tacoma.

A complete vaccine-clinic schedule for Pierce County is available here.

“They really try to make it convenient,” Keller said. “We don’t want people to just think about exempting their kids.”

Both said that Clover Park does an exemplary job at making sure its students are vaccinated.

“Because we really endorse this, we find that our compliance rates are high and our exemption rates are low,” Keller said. “We feel that having kids immunized really helps them and eradicates some of these illness where, 70 years ago, kids wouldn’t have made it past age two or three.”

Vandeventer agreed.

“Vaccines are one of the most groundbreaking things that have happened in public health in the last century,” she said. “We don’t see children with polio; we don’t see children with the measles; and we need to keep doing it so these diseases don’t come back.”

Vandeventer added that the health department emphasizes “community immunity” to build a barrier of protection against diseases such as Pertussis, of which there was a spike in cases in Pierce County in July.

The Tdap vaccine is recommended for all residents - adults and children - as an effective way of to increase immunity to Pertussis, which continues to be a problem.

“Community immunity” isn’t perfect, Vandeventer conceded, but it does make the barrier stronger.

“The Clover Park School District has done amazing things to make sure its immunization rate is high,” she said. “We appreciate them immensely because they are making sure that that pocket of Pierce County has that protection around it.”

The H1N1 “Swine Flu” vaccine is not required for school attendance and will not be administered at immunization clinics.

“We’re ready for a safe and healthy year so the kids will be able to learn to the best of their abilities,” Keller said.