By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
After a case of chickenpox was diagnosed in a student at Carrboro Elementary School, unvaccinated students in kindergarten through second grade are being told to stay away from school for three weeks.
Orange County Health Department officials sent a letter to parents on Tuesday stating that if the school did not have a record of their children’s varicella vaccination or proof that they had had chickenpox, they would be kept out of school until Sept. 26.
State law requires that children born on or after April 1, 2001 be vaccinated against chickenpox or have proof of having had chickenpox. According to Stephanie Willis, health coordinator for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, children born before that date are not required to get the vaccine and are not excluded from school.
Parents can apply for medical or religious exemptions from the vaccination requirement.
Seth Elliott said his 7-year-old daughter is being excluded from school for three weeks because she has a religious exemption and has not been vaccinated against chickenpox.
Elliott said he is considering options to get his daughter back in school.
“There’s a chance that children that haven’t been vaccinated have the antibodies against chickenpox,†he said, adding that he plans to get a blood test for his daughter to determine if she has the antibodies.
Elliott said he was surprised to receive the exclusion letter.
“It seemed like we were following the law with the [exemption],†he said. “I’m still trying to look more into that and understand the law behind it.â€
Willis said because the case of chickenpox was diagnosed in a student so early in the school year, the school didn’t have the immunization records for all students. In all, the health department sent exclusion letters home with 14 students, but only three children will be kept out of school because the other families have produced vaccination records or have had their children vaccinated since.
Willis said this type of situation occurs “very, very infrequently,†adding that in her 18 years with the district she can recall only one other instance when students were excluded from school because of communicable disease.
Chicken pox is not typically a deadly disease. These children would be better off getting exposed and gaining lifetime immunity.