Required Immunizations for School Attendance
In Washington, all students 18 years old or younger may get vaccines at low or no cost from their health care provider.
Parent/Guardian Instructions: To see which vaccines are required, find your child's grade and look only at that row going across to find the vaccines and number of doses required.
2021-2022
|
Kindergarten
through 6th grade
|
Hepatitis B |
DTaP/Tdap
(Diphtheria, Tetanus,
Pertussis) |
Polia |
MMR
(Measles, Mumps,
Rubella) |
Varicella
(Chicken Pox) |
3 doses
within the correct timeframes
|
5 doses*
within the correct timeframes |
4 doses*
within the correct timeframes |
2 doses
within the correct timeframes |
2 doses
within the correct timeframes
OR
A healthcare provider verified the student had the disease |
7th Grade through
12th Grade |
3 doses
within the correct timeframes |
5 doses*
AND
1 dose
Tdap
all within the correct timeframes |
4 doses*
within the correct timeframes |
2 doses
within the correct timeframes |
2 doses
within the correct timeframes
OR
A healthcare provider verified the student had the disease |
*Vaccine Doses may be fewer than listed depending on your student's situation.
|
|
|
|
|
Students must get vaccine doses at correct time frames to be in compliance with the requirements. Talk to your healthcare provider or school nurse if you have questions about school immunization requirements.
Find your school nurse.
There were changes made in June 2021, by the Department of Health (DOH) that have changed the immunization requirements for the 2021–22 School Year and school programs. This change indicates that all students enrolled at a public school must follow the immunization rules, even if participating in an alternative school or district program. These include home-school programming, vocational or technical programming, Running Start, and any virtual school program. All students will need to have a completed Certificate of Immunization Status (CIS) and/or Certificate of Exemption (COE) on file at the school to participate in school instruction and activities.
Changes to State Immunization Rules for Schools Effective August 1, 2020
The update to Chapter 246-105 WAC has three major focuses:
- It now requires medically verified immunization records for school and child care entry.
- It clarifies conditional status in regards to school and child care immunization requirements and implementation.
- It changes the Tdap immunization requirement to 7th through 12th grades.
Medically Verified Records
Starting on August 1, 2020, the revised rule requires medically verified immunization records for school entry. Medically verified record includes one or more of the following:
- A Certificate of Immunization Status(CIS) printed from the Immunization Information System (IIS),
- A physical copy of the CIS form with a healthcare provider signature,
- A physical copy of the CIS with accompanying medical immunization records from a healthcare provider verified and signed by school staff,
- A CIS printed from MyIR.
Conditional Status
Starting on August 1, 2020, the revised rule grants children conditional status entry into school who are making progress towards completing their immunization requirements. Children may begin school only if they received all of the required immunizations they are due to receive and submitted medically verified records on or before the first day of attendance. If additional immunization doses are needed after initiating all immunizations, students students may start school in conditional status and remain until the next dose becomes due.
Change to Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis (Tdap) Vaccine Requirement
Starting on August 1, 2020, the requirement for a Tdap dose changes from grade 6-12 to grade 7-12. All students entering 7th through 12th grades must have one booster dose of Tdap vaccine. In the 2020-2021 school year, all students in 7th grade must have received their Tdap dose on or after age 10 years. Students in 8th through 12th grades must have received their Tdap dose on or after age 7 years.
Vaccination Exemptions
A
Certificate of Exemption identifying that you have medical, personal, or religious reasons for not vaccinating your child can be submitted to the school.
Despite an exemption, please know that should an outbreak occur in school, your student could be out of school for weeks.
MMR Vaccine Exemption Law Change 2019
In 2019, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill that removes the personal and philosophical option to exempt children from the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine required for school.