New Law Requires Vaccine For Students

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A law passed last year requiring Ohio parents to vaccinate their children in 7th through 12th grade for meningitis will take effect in a few weeks.

Prior to this year there was no requirement to vaccinate for the infection in Ohio. Parents can still opt out of vaccines for their children for religious, medical, or philosophical reasons.

Many have chosen to opt out of the vaccine for a variety of reasons. Tiffany McFee, the assistant director of nursing at the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department, said that reasons for fearing the vaccines are irrational.

“Fears comes primarily from word of mouth,” said McFee. “People talking with people and coming up with different things or if something happens closely to when the vaccine was given, it gives the indication that it was caused by the vaccine, or that it leads to that.”

According to the CDC, 74% of Ohio children are vaccinated, which is lower than the national average of 79%. Any parent that objects to their child being vaccinated must submit a hand-written letter to the school stating why. But McFee warns that no parent should do that.

“Actually we have seen an increase in the those coming in because of the requirements for the 7th and 12th graders. Earlier this year we started to see an increase in the number of people coming in for vaccines,” said McFee.

McFee said parents can and should get vaccines for their children at the their family doctor’s office or a the Health Department.