Guilford County Schools seventh-grade students who showed up for school on Wednesday, Sept. 26 without state-mandated vaccinations and would normally have been sent home got a last-minute reprieve.
State law requires students to have the meningococcal conjugate vaccination (MCV) and the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis booster) vaccination by the 30th day after the start of classes or be sent home. But the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, because of the many problems caused by Hurricane Florence, yesterday notified Guilford County Schools of a blanket extension on all pre-K to 12th grade vaccination requirements.
Students now have until Nov. 1, 2018 to get all required shots.
Of Guilford County Schools students, 217 seventh-graders, or about 4 percent, did not have the Tdap vaccination, and 245 seventh-graders, also about 4 percent, did not have the meningococcal conjugate vaccination. They were allowed to attend classes.
That’s about the same as last year, when 4 percent of Guilford County School students were sent home.
State officials said that Hurricane Florence created many barriers to parents getting their students to doctors to get the shots.
Parents can have students vaccinated at their doctor’s offices. They can also have them vaccinated from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services immunization clinics at 1100 East Wendover Ave. in Greensboro and 501 E. Green Dr. in High Point.
