School officials are bracing for what could be a surge of middle and high school students arriving for the first day of school in August without having received their state-mandated whooping cough vaccination.
A state law that goes into effect July 1 requires all seventh- through 12th-graders to have current immunization against pertussis, or whooping cough.
"When people come to school to enroll for the fall semester they must show proof that they have that vaccination," said Sharon Liddell, superintendent of the Santa Rosa district. "If they don't, we can't allow them to enroll, we can't allow them to have a schedule or sign up for sports or anything."
In February, county health officials estimated as many as 17,000 teens were without current immunization. Health officials this week said an updated estimate probably won't be available until July.
"We don't have the exact number because of the way the numbers are collected," said Mark Netherda, interim director of the Public Health Division of Sonoma County. "We can't be precise."
"The state has an idea that they believe that well over 50 percent of the kids have gotten their vaccinations," Netherda said.
Schools began alerting families last school year about the new requirements but concern remains that some haven't gotten the message and the first day of school will be rife with confusion.
"Absolutely, so we are planning on bringing our health tech and school nurse back early to be there when registration happens," said Keller McDonald, superintendent of West County School District.
School officials won't administer shots but will counsel parents and students on the new rule, he said. Only half of the affected students in the district have current whooping cough immunization, McDonald estimated.
But school officials said tracking students' status is difficult because kids can show up to class in August with proof of the vaccine in hand without having reported it earlier.
In Windsor, officials say about 99 percent of all students have submitted the proper paperwork.
School districts are required to administer the new law but were given no financial support to do so, said Steve Herrington, Sonoma County superintendent of schools.
"No assistance and no reimbursement - this was passed as a non-funded mandate," he said.
Some parents are expressing confusion because children may have received a pertussis vaccination as an infant so they mistakenly believe they are covered into the teen years.
"We've had a lot of people calling about it," said Mia Smit, a nurse at the Alexander Valley Regional Medical Center.
Health providers routinely check vaccination records to see if a booster is needed, even if the student has come to the office for another reason, Smit said.
Key to the new law is that existing vaccination waivers, called Personal Belief Exemptions, do not cover the whooping cough booster vaccination. Parents must sign a revised, state-approved exemption form in the presence of a school official before the student can enroll in class or participate in extra-curricular activities.
Those students who are exempt from the vaccination could be barred from school for at least 21 days if two students on their campus get diagnosed with pertussis.
"You could end up with somebody missing a lot of school," Liddell said. "We understand that and that affects all of us."
Sonoma County's exemption rate is nearly 5 percent of public school students and almost 8 percent in private schools. Those numbers far exceed the state average of 2 percent.
California is a late-comer to the pertussis vaccine requirement, Netherda said.
"Until December, we were one of only 11 states that didn't have this law," he said.
More than 1,000 people in California have been infected with pertussis in 2011. No deaths have been reported.
In 2010, 8,627 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of whooping cough were documented, including the deaths of 10 infants, all too young to have received the first three doses of the vaccine. The number of cases was the highest in 63 years, prompting state officials to declare an epidemic.
Unlike other vaccines given to children before they enter kindergarten, the protection from pertussis vaccine diminishes over time - thus the new requirement for an updated dose.
"Getting the vaccine not only protects the child you are immunizing but it really helps the community at large," Netherda said. "People need to do this now. We have known about this since December."
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