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Pa. will no longer allow long grace period for school vaccinations

Students entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania will have five days to receive the required vaccinations or prove they are scheduled to receive them. Children who aren't vaccinated could be barred from attending school.
The regulation, which takes effect in August, all but closes what used to be an eight-month window for getting the vaccines.
Now, parents of students who aren't vaccinated within the first five days will have to show a medical plan proving they have begun the process of getting the vaccinations.
State health and education officials have said the changes will address health concerns: That unvaccinated children will pass along illnesses to children who can't be vaccinated because of medical reasons, and that unvaccinated children will be vulnerable during an outbreak of an illness such as measles.
Pa. to take away kids' vaccination grace period, expand vaccine list
Officials strive for "herd immunity."
Public health experts say a 95 percent vaccination rate is needed to achieve the state of "herd immunity." At that point, diseases can't gain a foothold and children who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons such as undergoing cancer treatment are protected.
State officials also sought to end the long grace period because it caused children who got vaccinated later in the school year not to be included in numbers provided to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That gave Pennsylvania one of the lower rates for kindergarten vaccinations. Now Pennsylvania will have the final count in time for the deadline.
There are no changes to the exceptions that allow students to skip vaccinations for medical, religious and philosophical reasons.
The push to end Pennsylvania's long grace period began in 2015 following the measles outbreak which sickened more than 100 children in California, and which was attributed to families who refuse vaccinations for their children.
Students starting kindergarten, or in any grade, need these:
• 4 doses of tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (usually given as DTP or DTaP)
• 4 doses of polio
• 3 doses of hepatitis B
• 2 doses of measles, mumps, rubella (usually given as MMR)
• 2 doses of varicella (chickenpox) or evidence of immunity
Also, students entering 7th grade need:
• 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap) 
• 1 dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV)


http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/04/pa_will_no_longer_allow_long_g.html#incart_most-comments