Sonoma school district ready for new state immunization requirements

A new state law that takes effect today, Jan. 1, means that anti-vaccine families can no longer opt out of immunizing their children if they want them to attend public, private or charter schools in California.

The legislation, SB 277, sponsored by state Sen. Richard Pank (D-Sacramento), eliminates the personal or religious belief waiver. Families can still get a waiver from their doctor to not vaccinate a child for medical reasons.

Locally, the new law means that students entering a Sonoma Valley school after the first of the year must show proof of immunization against diphtheria, hepatitis B, influenza type B, measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, rubella, tetanus and chickenpox. Currently enrolled students who have a personal or religious belief exemption already on file will be allowed to wait until kindergarten, transitional kindergarten, or seventh grade to be vaccinated. No new religious or personal belief waivers will be accepted.

According to Sonoma Valley Unified School District principal of preschool Susan Langer, all preschool students currently enrolled in the district are already immunized according to state and county regulations. The only waiver accepted is medical.

The district’s director of student services, Nikarre Redcoff, said she expects most families in the district to be unaffected by the law.

“Most of our students have already received all the necessary vaccinations,” said Redcoff.

For most families, the new law does not affect them, as up-to-date vaccinations have long been required to start the school year.

District communications manager Peter Feng confirmed that the Sonoma Valley students who are not up to date on their vaccinates typically fall into three camps: a handful who are accidentally non-compliant; a handful with medical reasons not to vaccinate; and a larger group that does not believe in vaccinations for personal reasons.

Up until Jan. 1, 2016, any family that did want to vaccinate their children had the option of receiving a personal belief exemption under SB 2109.

The California Department of Public Health’s website www.shotsforschool.org has more information about the new law, SB 277, as well as a map that details every Sonoma Valley school and its vaccination rates (shotsforschool.org/k-12/how-doing/). The site shows that Woodland Star Charter School currently is the only local school labeled as “most vulnerable.” As of the 2014 - 2015 school year, slightly more than 10 percent of Woodland Star’s kindergarten students had a personal belief exemption on file and were not up to date on required vaccinations. The other schools in Sonoma Valley appear to have no kindergartners with PBEs on file.

The common consensus among public health experts is that when 8 percent or more of a population is unvaccinated, “herd immunity” is lost and some diseases can spread quickly. Data from 2014 shows 800 schools statewide labeled as “most vulnerable” based on kindergarten tracking.

Feng said that several waves of communication will begin when school resumes in January to begin the process of making sure that every family is in compliance. “A letter is being prepared for all district families informing them of the change,” he said. “The letters will be mailed by each school site and over the course of the next several months, the district will work closely with the school nurses at each site to reach out to each family whose child is not up to date on his or her vaccines, including phone calls when necessary.”

The district has a “soft deadline” of July 2016 to get all families in compliance with the new law, and SVUSD Superintendent Louann Carlomagno confirmed that when the new school year begins in fall 2016, any student who is not in compliance with the new law will not be able to attend classes.

“We want to make sure that all families enrolled in our district and all of those who are planning to enroll in our district have the opportunity to do so successfully,” said Carlomagno. “This will be an ongoing process by the district to work with those families who may be affected by this new law.”

Email Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.