Hello, Has anyone dealt with the new Immunization Law that was passed in California this year? Are college students required to be up to date on all immunizations by the time they arrive on campus? Is there any exemption available at this time? Any information is appreciated. Thank you!
With all of the anti-vaccine people around as potential carriers of contagious diseases that one could get exposed to, one cannot depend on herd immunity. So if one does not have a medical reason why one cannot get the vaccines for such contagious diseases, it makes sense to get the indicated vaccines anyway (regardless of whether the schools require them).
@ucbalumnus is right. And immunization is particularly important for people who live in close proximity to lots of other people – such as college students in a dorm.
I wonder, how are they gonna check? Immunization records are often hand written 
Also, you could get immunization record from a doctor in Mexico.
It’s obviously a good idea for everyone to get vaccinated if there is no medical contraindication. Who wants to get sick at college and possibly have grades suffer or have to withdraw? Not to mention that it’s just common decency to protect those who aren’t medically able to get vaccinated from unnecessary exposures.
I would think that forging medical records and supplying fraudulent information to a college could get you expelled.
OK, but do research by talking to your doctor, not by reading nutty screeds on the Internet.
@appleannie41 Given recent outbreaks at some colleges they are not likely to give you or your student an exemption based on your reading of pseudoscience and some misguided celebrity spokespeople.
I’ll be more blunt - think of it as the final IQ test before enrollment. Anyone too dumb to get their vaccinations is too stupid to attend college and is a threat to public health (unless they have a medical condition that prevents them from getting vaccinated, of course).
@californiaaa where I live no one will accept hand written vaccinations. They require official printed forms from the health department. Been that way for years.
Does the health dept issue forms if you did not recieve your vaccinations there?
It’s a normal part of enrollment for many colleges (in California or not) for new students to submit a health history and medical exam, along with a copy or signed statement of the student’s immunizations. D2’s (California, private) school says if students can’t find their immunization records, they can either be re-immunized, or have a blood test to determine immunity. No word of any exemption. I imagine that if a student cannot be immunized because of a medical condition that could be addressed. But exemptions because a student (or, to be more accurate, the student’s parents) doesn’t want to be immunized–well, choices have consequences.
Bottom line is that you would need to check with the specific school.
The schools our family attended allowed guesstimation of what vaccines were recieved & when.
@emeraldkity4 Yes, our health department issues forms no matter where you received vaccinations. Medical providers enter the info into their database and the health department prints it.
ETA: Schools will only accept the form from the health department.
Same here. D’s college asked for the printout, signed by either her doctor or the county health dept nurse.
In fact we just got an email from her college that she got her second Hep B shot “too early” and she needs to either get a blood test to show immunity or get a booster. Gotta do that this week, in fact…
Some colleges in the northwest havent been adamant about requiring records, and unfortunately, neither are k-12 schools.
Imo, it is driven by newcomers who have a belief that if they are not directly affected, it couldnt be important.
http://kuow.org/post/seattle-kids-have-lower-polio-vaccination-rate-rwanda
http://kuow.org/post/seattle-schools-most-unvaccinated-students-are-wealthier-neighborhoods
I read that Mississippi has the highest rate of childhood vaccinations in the country. Either they have a good vaccination program of they don’t think that they know better than doctors, or both.
Love this from @al2simon
And to the OP: The California law goes into effect UC-wide in the fall of 2017. But check the rules of your campus. Individual campuses can impose their own mandates that are stricter, or can move up the UC timeline to require the vaccines sooner.
This is what will be required:
The University of California will require incoming students to be screened for tuberculosis and vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, meningococcus, tetanus and whooping cough, under a plan set to take effect in 2017.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-plans-require-vaccinations-incoming-students
^^^
Just to clarify - my harsh response was not to the original post, but instead to a subsequent anti-vaccination advocacy post that has apparently been deleted.
All states have the same vaccination program available to children up to the age of 19. Federal government will pay for any vaccines needed, all you have to do it ask. Vaccination rates seem to be the opposite of what you’d expect them to be because in many ‘educated’ areas, people have read the horror stories and incorrect studies and opt out. Colorado and California (until recently) allowed parents to object to vaccines for personal reasons, so there are a lot of unvaccinated kids and lots of whooping cough. When we moved to Florida, I had to go to the health department and get the print out. They questioned some of my kids’ shots and the timing of them (one had been a preemie and so hers were delayed, one is adopted and hers are all off for timing too). No exceptions for personal beliefs - if you want to go to public school or participate in public activities like after school programs at the rec center, you have to be vaccinated.
A girl I knew went away to college and within two weeks had meningitis and within 5 hours had died, even though she’d been vaccinated. I just saw on the news tonight that two teens in a local high school have meningitis. I say don’t fool around with vaccinations.
@TomSrOfBoston Mississippi requires proof of vaccinations from the health department before a child can be enrolled in school. Don’t want to vaccinate your kids - home school.