Proposed Text
Part I
Definitions
12VAC5-110-10. Definitions.
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Adequate immunization" means the immunization requirements prescribed under 12VAC5-110-70.
"Admit" or "admission" means the official enrollment or reenrollment for attendance at any grade level, whether full-time or part-time, of any student by any school.
"Admitting official" means the school principal or his designated representative if a public school; if a nonpublic school or child care center, the principal, headmaster or director of the school or center.
"Board" means the State Board of Health.
"Commissioner" means the State Health Commissioner.
"Compliance" means the completion of the immunization requirements prescribed under 12VAC5-110-70.
"Conditional enrollment" means the enrollment of a student for a period of 90 days contingent upon the student having received at least one dose of each of the required vaccines and the student possessing a plan, from a physician or local health department, for completing his immunization requirements within the ensuing 90 calendar days. If the student requires more than two doses of hepatitis B vaccine, the conditional enrollment period, for hepatitis B vaccine only, shall be 180 calendar days.
"Documentary proof" means an appropriately completed copy of the most current version of Form MCH 213G signed by a physician or his designee, registered nurse, or an official of a local health department. A copy of the immunization record signed or stamped by a physician or his designee, registered nurse, or an official of a local health department indicating the dates of administration including month, day, and year of the required vaccines, shall be acceptable in lieu of recording these dates on Form MCH 213G, as long as the record is attached to Form MCH 213G and the remainder of Form MCH 213G has been appropriately completed. A printout of an immunization record from the provider's electronic health record can be accepted without a signature or stamp. For a new student transferring from an out-of-state school, any immunization record, which contains the exact date (month/day/year) of administration of each of the required doses of vaccines, is signed by a physician or his designee or registered nurse, and complies fully with the requirements prescribed under 12VAC5-110-70 shall be acceptable.
"Immunization" means the administration of a product licensed by the FDA to confer protection against one or more specific pathogens.
"Immunization schedules" means the 2015 2017
Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Children and
Adolescents Aged 0 through 18 Years or Younger developed and
published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
"Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in any of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.
"School" means:
1. Any public school from kindergarten through grade 12 operated under the authority of any locality within this Commonwealth;
2. Any private or religious school that offers instruction at any level or grade from kindergarten through grade 12;
3. Any private or religious nursery school or preschool, or any private or religious child care center required to be licensed by this Commonwealth;
4. Any preschool classes or Head Start classes operated by the school divisions within this Commonwealth; and
5. Any family day home or developmental center.
"Student" means any person who seeks admission to a school, or for whom admission to a school is sought by a parent or guardian, and who will not have attained the age of 20 years by the start of the school term for which admission is sought.
"Twelve months of age" means the 365th day following the date of birth. For the purpose of evaluating records, vaccines administered up to four days prior to the first birthday (361 days following the date of birth) will be considered valid.
Part IV
Procedures and Responsibilities
12VAC5-110-90. Responsibilities of admitting officials.
A. Procedures for determining the immunization status of students. Each admitting official or his designee shall review, before the first day of each school year, the school medical record of every new student seeking admission to his school, and that of every student enrolling in grade six for compliance with the requirements prescribed in 12VAC5-110-70. Such review shall determine into which one of the following categories each student falls:
1. Students whose immunizations are adequately documented and complete in conformance with 12VAC5-110-70. Students with documentation of existing immunity to mumps, measles, rubella, or varicella as defined in 12VAC5-110-80 B shall be considered to be adequately immunized for such disease.
2. Students who are exempt from the immunization requirements of 12VAC5-110-70 because of medical contraindications or religious beliefs provided for by 12VAC5-110-80.
3. Students whose immunizations are inadequate according to the requirements of 12VAC5-110-70.
4. Students without any documentation of having been adequately immunized.
B. Notification of deficiencies. Upon identification of the students described in subdivisions A 3 and 4 of this section, the admitting official shall notify the parent or guardian of the student:
1. That there is no, or insufficient, documentary proof of adequate immunization in the student's school records.
2. That the student cannot be admitted to school unless he has documentary proof that he is exempted from immunization requirements pursuant to 12VAC5-110-70.
3. That the student may be immunized and receive certification by a licensed physician, registered nurse, or an official of a local health department.
4. How to contact the local health department to receive the necessary immunizations.
C. Conditional enrollment. Any student whose immunizations are incomplete may be admitted conditionally if that student provides documentary proof at the time of enrollment of having received at least one dose of the required immunizations accompanied by a schedule for completion of the required doses within 90 calendar days, during which time that student shall complete the immunizations required under 12VAC5-110-70. If the student requires more than two doses of hepatitis B vaccine, the conditional enrollment period, for hepatitis B vaccine only, shall be 180 calendar days. If a student is a homeless child or youth and does not have documentary proof of necessary immunizations or has incomplete immunizations and is not exempted from immunization as described in 12VAC5-110-80, the school administrator shall immediately admit such student and shall immediately refer the student to the local school division liaison, who shall assist in obtaining the documentary proof of, or completing, immunizations. The admitting official should examine the records of any conditionally enrolled student at regular intervals to ensure that such a student remains on schedule with his plan of completion.
D. Exclusion. The admitting official shall, at the end of the conditional enrollment period, exclude any student who is not in compliance with the immunization requirements under 12VAC5-110-70 and who has not been granted an exemption under 12VAC5-110-80 until that student provides documentary proof that his immunization schedule has been completed, unless documentary proof that a medical contraindication developed during the conditional enrollment period is submitted.
E. Transfer of records. The admitting official of every school shall be responsible for sending a student's immunization records or a copy thereof, along with his permanent academic or scholastic records, to the admitting official of the school to which a student is transferring within 10 days of his transfer to the new school.
F. Report of student immunization status. Each admitting official shall, within 30 days of the beginning of each school year or entrance of a student, or by October 15 of each school year, file with the State Health Department through the health department for his locality, a report summarizing the immunization status of the students in his school as of the first day of school. This report shall be filed using the web-enabled reporting system or on the most current version of Form SIS, the Student Immunization Status Report, and shall contain the number of students admitted to that school with documentary proof of immunization, the number of students who have been admitted with a medical or religious exemption and the number of students who have been conditionally admitted.
G. Immunization records shall be open to inspection by health department officials.
H. Each admitting official shall ensure that the parent or guardian of a female to be enrolled in the sixth grade receives educational materials describing the link between the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer. Materials shall be approved by the board and provided to the parent or guardian prior to the child's enrollment in the sixth grade.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (12VAC5-110)
2015 Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Aged 0
through 18 Years, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, effective January 1, 2015