New Jersey Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs M.D., J.D., today approved amendments to the State’s immunization rules, which will require four additional immunizations for children beginning in September 2008. 

 

The Public Health Council, by vote at its December 10 public meeting, recommended to the Commissioner the approval of the adoption of the amendment and new rules related to Immunization of Pupils in Schools.  The rules will be filed with the Office of Administrative Law for publication.

 

The administrative rules will require children attending licensed child care centers and preschools to receive annual influenza vaccinations and a pneumoccocal vaccine beginning in September 2008. 

 

Also, children born after January 1, 1997 and enrolled in grade six or transferring into a New Jersey school from another state or country will be required to receive a booster dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine as well as one dose of meningococcal vaccine.

 

The regulations were amended by the Department with advice from a number of national organizations and with recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

“The amendments to the rules governing immunizations will have a direct impact on reducing illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in one of New Jersey’s most vulnerable populations – our children,” said Commissioner Jacobs. “Vaccinations have proven to be one of the most effective and safe forms of disease prevention.”

 

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