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Schools suspend 117 students who didn't get required shot
State law mandates that sixth-graders get Tdap booster vaccine
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Published: September 27, 2008
No shot means no school for some North Carolina sixth-graders.
A law passed by the General Assembly in January requires children to have one booster dose of tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis, also called Tdap, if five years have passed since their last one.
Parents were told that their children would be suspended from school if the immunizations aren't up to date within 30 days from the start of school. The rules apply to about 210,000 students in the state.
Sixth-graders in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools who didn't have the booster vaccination were suspended from school starting Thursday.
About 117 of the system's nearly 3,800 sixth-graders have been suspended.
In order for children to return to school, parents must provide proof that their children have been vaccinated.
"Most middle schools had at least one or two students sent home," said Theo Helm, a spokesman for the school system.
"Some middle schools had 10, others five or six. It really has been pretty evenly spread throughout the middle schools."
The shots were given for free at the county health department, Helm said. About 1,100 students hadn't gotten the shot as of
a week ago.
"We rarely get a 100 percent return rate on things we send home," he said. "We sent out forms in May about the need for the shot. It's human nature for some people to put things off until they're facing a deadline."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the booster after North Carolina had an increase in pertussis -- or whooping cough -- said Amy Caruso, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The requirement took effect for this school year.
Around the state, systems were dealing with suspensions.
About 400 sixth-graders in Guilford County Schools still needed to submit proof of their vaccination yesterday afternoon.
Thursday more than 1,000 students needed updated records, said Jennifer Landes, a spokeswoman for the Guilford County Schools. About 5,400 sixth-graders are in the county's public schools system.
Officials in the Davidson County school system, said they didn't have a count of the sixth- graders who hadn't had the vaccinations.
"We don't have many," said Meredith Palmer, a spokeswoman for Davidson County Schools. "I'd say we had less than 10 if we had that many, which is good."
No other school systems in Northwest North Carolina have had to suspend any students.
Officials in the Watauga County Schools say that all of the county's sixth-graders have complied with the booster shot.
"Last spring, we teamed up with the health department and brought (health workers) into our schools," said Marshall Gasperson, the director of student services for Watauga County Schools.
Nearly 70 percent of the about 350 rising sixth-graders got the boosters then, and the rest were immunized over the summer by private doctors.
Ashe County school officials said yesterday that all of Ashe's sixth-graders -- about 300 in the county's three elementary schools -- have the required booster.
Last spring, Ashe officials sent letters home with students. This school year, they followed up with fliers sent home with students; then began calling the parents of students who still had not gotten the shot.
■ Lisa Boone-Wood can be reached at 727-7232 or at
lboone-
wood@wsjournal.com
.
■ Journal reporters Richard Craver and Monte Mitchell and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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