http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34853-2002Jan24.html

 

D.C. Verifying Immunizations
City to Run 24-Hour Clinic For Students Needing Shots

_____From The Post_____ • Operation Final Push (The Washington Post, Jan 15, 2002) • No Shots? No Class, District Schools Say (The Washington Post, Dec 4, 2001)   _____Immunization_____ • Child Immunization Schedule • Immunization Fact Sheet • Excuses Parents Use for Not Getting Children Their Shots • Ten Reasons to Vaccinate Before Age 2 • Tips for Parents About Baby Shots • Six Common Misconceptions About Vaccinations   • Latest Education News             E-Mail This Article     Printer-Friendly Version     Subscribe to The Post

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 25, 2002; Page B01

District school staff members will work through the weekend to uncover records of immunizations that may have been misplaced, officials said yesterday, hoping the effort will ensure that only those students who lack required shots are barred from their classrooms Monday.

Administrators have directed principals to comb through files and search offices and boxes of paperwork in response to concerns that not all of the students' records have been entered into a citywide Health Department database.

Health officials said yesterday that 13,000 students in the 68,000-student system are at risk of being turned away from classes because their immunization records are either not up-to-date or not in the database. The school board voted in November to start enforcing a law Monday that requires immunizations.

In an effort to deal with students who have not received required shots, Health Department officials said they would operate a 24-hour immunization clinic beginning at 4 p.m. today at D.C. General Hospital, 1900 Massachusetts Ave. SE. Officials said parents could call 1-800-666-2229 for information on other locations for immunizations.

Yesterday, leaders of the two largest parent groups in the city said students might be excluded from class solely because of poorly maintained records. Linda Moody, president of the D.C. Congress of PTAs, said that while some schools had reconciled their files with Health Department records, others have lacked the resources to do so.

Steven G. Seleznow, the school system's chief of staff, said principals have been told to devote the employees and time necessary to look through students' files.

Parents and other officials said that in the past few days, a number of records have turned up. Moody said that at Beers Elementary in Southeast Washington, parents of 265 children were told last Friday that no immunization records were on file. But she said that the school later went through the paper records and discovered that at least 173 of those students had records but that they had not been entered into the computer system.

D.C. Health Department Director Ivan C.A. Walks said that 80 records from two schools turned up Wednesday. He said that in come cases, it was the system's fault for failing to turn over records to the school nurses, who work under contract with the Health Department. He said that in the future, records should be turned over to the nurses at enrollment time.

"Based on the fact that we had 80 records come in [Wednesday], there is a problem of records being someplace in the school and not getting to the school nurse," Walks said. "Another concern is records being in the district but not at the school the child currently attends. . . . All of those categories of record-keeping need to be addressed by the school system."

Seleznow said that principals have been instructed to reconcile the Health Department's list with their files Monday when determining which students should be kept from classes. The students will be redirected to a holding area, and parents will be called to clear up their cases. Seleznow said that some schools have kept strong records while others have not, and that in some cases, nurses may have failed to enter information into the database.

The Health Department and school system plan to establish a system so that parents can resolve disputes before Monday.

Iris Toyer, co-chairman of Parents United for the D.C. Schools, said that because of record-keeping concerns, the school system should wait until September to enforce the new rules. "There's enough blame to go around," Toyer said. "But ultimately, children are going to suffer. . . . We need to do everything we can to keep children in school."

School board members stood by their policy. Tommy Wells (District 3), who co-chairs a committee that has been dealing with the issue, said students who are not immunized pose a health risk and must be excluded.

Also yesterday, a doctor at a community health clinic in Congress Heights that provides services such as immunization said that the clinic has periodically run out of vaccines and that long lines have resulted in students leaving before getting their shots.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.