ATTENTION ALL 5th 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 Education (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!

 		 

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The NJ Dept of Health and Senior Services has received numerous inquiries regarding enforcement of NJAC8:57-4, immunization of Pupils in School. The issue of exemptions to mandatory immunizations has been reviewed by the NJDHSS Office of Legal and Regulatory Affairs and the NJ Office of the Attorney General.

Below is a summary of the advice received from legal council regarding exemptions to immunizations.

* Religious Exemptions: NJSA 26:1A-1 provides an exemption for pupils from mandatory immunization "if the parent of guardian of the pupil objects thereto in a written statement signed by the parent or guardian upon the grounds that the proposed immunization interferes with the free exercise of the pupil's religious rights."

All schools, child care centers, and local health officers may be advised that the religious exemption extends to private, parochial, and public institutions. When a parent or guardian submits their written religious exemption to immunization which contains some religious reference, those persons charged with implementing administrative rules at NJAC 8:57-4.4 should not question whether the parent's professed religious statement or stated belief is reasonable, acceptable, sincere and bona fide. In practice, if the written statement contains the word "religion" or "religious" or some reference thereto, then the statement should be accepted and the religious exemption of mandatory immunizations granted. The language requiring how the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with the student's religious beliefs does not mandate specificity as to membership in a recognized church or religious denomination.

NJDHSS will seek to amend the rules at NJAC 8:57-4.4 through the Administrative Rules process to be consistent with NJSA 26:1A-1. * Medical Exemptions: NJAC 8:57-4.3 allows for exemptions to immunizations which are medically contraindicated.

A written statement shall be submitted to the school, preschool, or child care center from a physician licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy or an advanced practice nurse (certified registered nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist) indicating that an immunization is medically contraindicated for a specific period of time, and the reason(s) for the medical contraindication, based upon valid medical reasons as enumerated by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) or the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines.

Objections to vaccination based on grounds which are not medical or religious in nature and which are of a philosophical, moral, secular, or more general nature continues to be unacceptable.

NJDHSS hopes that the information provided will enable schools, child care facilities, and local health departments to process requests for exemptions in a more uniform and expeditious manner. NJDHSS remains committed to ensuring that our children and communities are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The dramatic decrease in the morbidity and mortality of vaccine-preventable diseases is attributed, in large part, to enforcement of school immunization requirements. The Department remains grateful for all the work expended locally to implement and enforce these important health regulations within the proscribed authority.

If you have any questions, please contact the NJDHSS Vaccine Preventable Diseases Program at (609)588-7512.