• Vaccination Requirements
  • Requirements for Pre-Kindergarten and Headstart

Students with delinquent immunizations will not be allowed to start school on August 25, 2008. State law requires that medically validated up-to-date records of immunizations be on file for all students.

Parents should prepare now to get the necessary shots for their child and submit documentation to the school office prior to August 25, 2008. A listing of necessary immunizations can be found below.

Official documentation of exemptions for either medical reasons or reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs, must be submitted to the school office prior to August 25, as well. A minimum of two weeks should be allowed in order to obtain an affidavit for exemption for reasons of conscience from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Effective September 1, 2005, House Bill (HB) 1316 will become law.  This law requires that children attending pre-kindergarten and Head Start facilities be vaccinated against invasive pneumococcal and hepatitis A diseases.

Pursuant to the Human Resource Code §42.043 (b), each child at an appropriate age shall be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, mumps, rubella, rubeola, invasive pneumococcal and hepatitis A disease and against any other communicable disease as recommended by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS).  Additionally, DSHS requires vaccination against pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, varicella, and hepatitis B.  Although the law requires that the immunizations must be administered to the child on the date of first entry into the child-care facility, a child may be provisionally admitted if the required immunizations have begun and are completed as rapidly as medically feasible.

Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by the bacteria streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus.  The most common types of infections (bacteremia), sinus infections, and meningitis.  There are currently two licensed vaccines that prevent pneumococcal disease.  The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) is required for all children attending child-care facilities aged 2 months through 59 months of age.

Hepatitis A is a liver disease commonly associated with food servers.  It is spread from person to person by putting objects in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A.  Children attending child-are who are two years of age or older will need two doses of the hepatitis A vaccine separated by six to 18 months.  Children must be allowed 18 months from the date of the first does to complete the series before a child-care facility can deny admittance.

For additional information regarding school or child-care facility immunization requirements, you may contact the DSHS Immunization Branch at (512)-458-7284 or (800)-252-9152.