Vigo Co. Schools to suspend non-vaccinated students

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – Vigo County schools plans to suspend children without certain vaccinations.

This week the school corporation mailed out letters to parents whose children are not up-to-date on their immunizations, and exclusion from school is next for non-immunized children, reported WISH-TV sister station WTHI News.

Call it a response to several outbreak cases across the country this year, Vigo County schools have placed a major emphasis on immunizations for students according to Director of Student Services Ray Azar.

“Our nursing staff for the school corporation has been working for many, many months now to try and get all students up to the legal requirement for attending school, with regards to vaccinations,” Azar said Thursday.

The list of vaccinations issued by the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) has a high compliance percentage in Vigo County schools. Fewer than 100 students are failing to meet the mark.

“At some point and time there will be an exclusion date for those who have not met those requirements, and we’re at that stage right now,” Azar said. “We’re beginning to send letters actually specifying a date where students will no longer be able to attend school unless they meet the legal requirement.”

Starting next week, children who not up to the standard will not attend Vigo County schools, but there are a few exceptions.

“Unless they file a medical exemption or a religious exemption,” Azar explained. “We do recognize those and they are allowed under the state law.”

Azar said children who have a scheduled appointment for vaccinations can still attend past Monday, but they must have proof of the appointment.

The ISDH offers a Vaccines for Children program, which provides vaccinations at no cost to children who otherwise don’t have the means to pay for them. To find out more about this program, click here.