Vaccine Mandate Guide For MD: What To Know As School Starts 2023

MARYLAND — Getting children ready for the new school year can be stressful, with new supplies to buy and bus routes to figure out. Maryland also requires certain vaccinations for school children entering grades K-12, so here is what to know.

Children attending kindergarten through their senior year of high school are required to receive a number of immunizations to attend class at Maryland schools, including for polio, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), and DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis). And, students are required to get a dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine later in their school careers.

Vaccination requirements vary by state. All states require that incoming kindergartners get polio and chickenpox vaccines, and all but Iowa require measles vaccinations. All 50 states require Hepatitis B vaccinations, but fewer than 20 require Hep. A.

Exemptions are allowed in Maryland for religious or medical reasons, but students who do not have an exemption or an extension filed could be excluded from going to class if they do not have the required immunizations in time.

National trends show that the percentage of children vaccinated against MMR declined nationally from about 95 percent in 2019-2020 to 94 percent the following school year and to 93 percent in the 2021-2022 school year, the last year for which data is available.

Though the decrease is slight, the CDC data shows about 250,000 school children nationwide are unprotected against measles, mumps and rubella — diseases that had been all but eradicated for decades before a tide of vaccine hesitancy began sweeping the country.

The MMR vaccination rate is the lowest in a decade, below the Healthy People 2030 target of 95 percent immunization coverage, which officials say is the level needed to prevent community transmission of measles. In all, 32 states saw declines in MMR coverage in the 2021-2022 school year — including Maryland.

Which Vaccines Are Required

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books requiring that students be vaccinated against early childhood diseases, but most of them allow religious exemptions, as well

State laws vary greatly in what they require. All states but Alabama require students to be vaccinated against hepatitis B. About a half dozen states or locations — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — require students to get an annual flu shot.

In general, kindergarteners ages 4-6 must be vaccinated against chickenpox; diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP vaccine); measles, mumps and rubella (MMR vaccine); and polio. By middle and high school, students should be vaccinated against meningococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV vaccine) and Serogroup B meningococcal infection.

Maryland requires the above vaccinations, along with varicella, chickenpox, and hepatitis B2, according to Britannica’s ProCon.org.

Exemptions are allowed in Maryland for religious reasons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A child whose parent or guardian objects to immunization on the ground that it conflicts with the parent’s or guardian’s bona fide religious beliefs and practices may not be required to present a physician’s certification of immunization in order to be admitted to school, state law says.

Many states align their vaccine requirements with recommendations from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.