More than 3,800 Baltimore City and 250 Baltimore County students have been barred from classes all week because they have failed to present proof of chickenpox and hepatitis B immunization, according to health officials.
Last spring, more than 23,000 Baltimore City school students and 18,000 Baltimore County students had been identified as out of compliance with new state Department of Health immunization guidelines. After months of letters, phone calls and pleas in the media to reach parents, both school systems knocked down those numbers dramatically. But as of Monday, 6,135 city students were not allowed in classrooms, according to Dr. Anne Bailowitz, the city Health Department?s child health and immunization chief.
More than 900 Baltimore County students faced bans as of last Friday. That number was cut significantly last weekend with two county clinics offering free vaccinations. County schools spokeswoman Kara Calder said students who need shots should contact their school nurses for clinic appointments.
Rose Jefferson, a community health nurse supervisor, said Thursday that the city?s clinics have been doing brisk business this week. She said 197 students came to the Druid Health District at 1515 W. North Ave. Wednesday for vaccinations. Thursday?s count at the Eastern Health District at 620 N. Caroline St. was up to 128 by midafternoon.
“We have chairs in the hallway to handle the overflow,” Jefferson said.
Eastern Health District will offer free shots again Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lakesha Bell brought her daughter, Brittany, 15, a ninth-grader at Mergenthaler Vo-Tech, and son, A.J., 14, a ninth-grader at Coppin Academy, to the Eastern clinic Thursday after hearing about the free shots from a social worker.
“I got the letters from the school, but I thought they had all their shots,” Bell said. “Then I had trouble getting an appointment with Brittany?s physician earlier this week and I had an insurance issue with A.J. They?ve been out of school all week.”
