Pennsylvania state law mandates that every child must be fully immunized to attend school.
A child must have the required medically-appropriate vaccines or a plan to complete those vaccines or risk exclusion from school. A child may still obtain medical, religious, or philosophical exemption from meeting the immunization requirements. State law dictates that even if your child is exempt from immunizations, he or she may be excluded from school during an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease.
Talk to your child's pediatrician about the vaccines your child needs to attend school.
Required immunizations for ALL GRADES include:
- 4 doses of tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis
- Usually given as DTP or DTaP or if medically advisable, OT or Td
- 1 dose on or after the 4th birthday
- 4 doses of polio
- 4th dose on or after 4th birthday and at least 6 months after previous dose given
- A fourth dose is not necessary if the third dose was administered at age 4 years or older and at least 6 months after the previous dose
- 2 doses of measles, mumps, rubella
- 3 doses of hepatitis B
- 2 doses of varicella (chickenpox) or evidence of immunity
Additional Immunizations Required for 7th Grade and Higher:
- 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap) by the first day of 7th grade
- 1 dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV) by the first day of 7th grade
Additional Immunizations Required for 12th Grade:
- 1 dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV) by the first day of 12th grade
- If one dose was given at 16 years of age or older, that shall count as the twelfth-grade dose.
Pennsylvania's school immunization requirements can be found in 28 Pa.CODE CH.23 (School Immunization). Contact your healthcare provider or call 1-877-PA-HEALTH for more information.
