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State health authorities have suspended immunization requirements for all students entering schools in North Carolina and all children entering day care centers to allow families to cope with the disruptions caused by the disease. hurricane Florence.
Under state law, all students attending junior kindergarten to grade 12, community college and public or private university must demonstrate that they have received the required vaccinations before their 30th birthday. school day.
Under an order of the National Director of Health, Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, the period from September 21 to November 1 will not count for the first 30 days of the children, which means that all students have until 1st December.
Kelly Haight, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday that the deadline was extended to accommodate families displaced by Hurricane Florence, which hit the state on Sept. 14, or floods that have followed the storm.
Haight said some scheduled immunization clinics have been canceled because of Florence and that families would need time to bring their children to reprogrammed clinics or doctors who could administer the vaccines.
Some families may also have lost their children's immunization records as a result of the floods. In addition, according to Haight, some doctors' offices may have lost energy as a result of the storm and vaccines that are not kept at appropriate temperatures would no longer be usable.
With the exception of medical and religious exemptions, all students entering school in the state must now be immunized at different ages against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus disease and bacterial meningitis.
DHHS Announcement follows Roy Governor Roy Cooper's Sept. 7 Disaster Statement in Hurricane Florence, and Executive Decree Wednesday Suspended Health Assessment, Vaccination and Reporting Requirements .
Most students entering North Carolina are vaccinated by the time they enter kindergarten. Each year, about 115,000 new students enter kindergarten in the state.
Writer T. Keung Hui contributed to this report.
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