2,000 may be kept out of class in Seattle
School district cautions unvaccinated students
Seattle Public Schools has informed parents that unvaccinated students will not be allowed to return to class after a January deadline and is making free clinics available to get students' immunization records up to date.
The district posted a notice Dec. 20 informing parents of the decision, citing Washington state law and the state's recently-passed bill that removes the "personal" and "philosophical" options to exempt children from the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.
Students have until Jan. 8 to get updated immunization records or they'll be excluded from attending school. Any students who miss days of school due to immunization requirements will have their absences recorded as unexcused.
Seattle Public Schools has hosted free immunization clinics to get students ready ahead of the deadline. Two have been held and a third will take place Friday.
Students with Seattle Public Schools have been on winter break since Dec. 23 and return to school Jan. 6, according to the district's calendar.
A spokesperson with Seattle Public Schools told USA TODAY on Monday that over 2,000 students' records are out of compliance, a drop from the more than 7,000 who were out of compliance in September.
If students are still out of compliance by the Jan. 8 deadline, they "will be received in a designated room at school, while school staff contacts the parents/guardians," the spokesperson wrote in an email.
The district is home to 53,627 students, the district's website reports.
In May, Washington's legislature passed a bill to remove the personal and philosophical options to exempt students from receiving the MMR vaccine – but kept in the religious and medical options.
That measure, despite protests, became law in July.
The bill came about as a county within the state known for not vaccinating its children was dealing with a measles outbreak near the start of 2019, which led to officials declaring a public health emergency.