Dozens kept out of school for failing to get shots
Published: Sat, Sep. 27, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Sat, Sep. 27, 2008 01:41AM
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closeRALEIGH -- Dozens of Triangle sixth-graders are being barred from school because they failed to get new state-mandated booster shots.
The Wake, Johnston, Orange and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school systems began preventing students from attending class Wednesday if they had not received a booster shot to combat whooping cough. School officials say they're trying to work with parents to get their children back in school as soon as possible.
The exact number of students being kept out of school isn't clear in some districts.
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As many as 90 students in Wake County were subject to suspension as of Wednesday, according to health officials. But officials say some may still be in school because they have since gotten shots or shown proof of the vaccination.
Forty-five students in Johnston County and 10 in Orange County were excluded as of Friday.
Durham school officials say 31 sixth-graders haven't gotten shots yet. But the school district is holding more free clinics at schools and hasn't begun barring students.
In Chatham County, where the deadline is Oct. 6, school officials said they were down to 80 students who need shots.
A new state law that went into effect Jan. 1 says that students entering the sixth grade after Aug. 1 of this year must get a booster shot for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis if they haven't had one in the past five years.
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Staff writer Stanley B. Chambers; Staff writer Eric Ferreri; Staff writer T. Keung Hui
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