ATTENTION ALL 5^th GRADE  PARENTS!  NEW VACCINES REQUIRED!

The New Jersey Public Health Council has mandated two new shots for students entering sixth grade.  Effective September 1, 2008, each New Jersey child entering sixth grade must have a meningitis vaccination and a DPT (diptheria/pertussis/tetanus) booster shot.  If your child does not have proof of these two vaccinations, they will not be allowed to attend sixth grade.  Your child must also have proof of the hepatitus B vaccination, required for students entering sixth grade since 2001.  (The NJ Public Health Council has also now required hepatitis B vaccination for students in grades 9 through 12).

You should check with your child’s doctor as soon as possible to see if your child has already received these vaccinations.  Many doctors have routinely given these shots to fifth or sixth graders for years based on the advice of federal health authorities and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Parents do have the right to opt out of the new requirements based on religious convictions or medical necessity.  In order to get a medical waiver, your child’s doctor must certify in writing that the immunizations would harm your child.  To obtain a religious waiver, you must certify in writing that the vaccination will “conflict with the pupil’s exercise of bona fide religious tenets or practices.”  You cannot avoid the vaccinations based only on philosophical or moral grounds.

For more information on vaccine-preventable diseases, or the new vaccination requirements for your entering-sixth grader, you can visit the website of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services at http://www.nj.gov/health/cd or the federal Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/nip.  The new state administrative code requirements can be found at http://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/chap13.pdf.

If you have questions, contact your child’s doctor.  You can also call the Family to Family Health Information Resource Center at the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network at 800-654-SPAN x 110.  SPAN is partnering with the Pediatric Council on Research and Educatino (PCORE), the foundation arm of the American Academy of Pediatrics-New Jersey Chapter, on their Adolescent Immunizations Community Partnership.  To find out more about PCORE, go to http://www.njpcore.org/about.html.   Don’t delay; check with your child’s doctor today!