Student Allowed to Return School After Getting Hepatitis Vaccination
 

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The Associated Press
Friday, June 14, 2002; 8:32 AM

SPARTA, N.J. –– A sixth-grader kept out of school for six months because he had not been vaccinated for Hepatitis B has returned to class.

Zachary Shaftan, 11, was suspended Nov. 2 after his parents refused to have him inoculated, as required by a state law that took effect in September. He returned to school last month after receiving the shots.

The regulation, which took effect in September, requires vaccinations for all children who were born in or after 1990 and are entering sixth grade.

His parents, Richard and Donna Shaftan, challenged the rule in court, claiming that it violated their son's rights and was invasive, unnecessary and unrelated to education. However, their arguments were rejected and they decided to home school their son.

Zachary was vaccinated after he told his parents that he missed his friends at Sprat Middle School.

"It was really his decision and I have to respect it. It's his life and what I think is irrelevant," Richard Shaftan told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's editions.

The Hepatitis B virus is transmitted through blood products, bodily fluids and needle pricks, and can lead to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.