SBOH/DOH Community Feedback Session – Immunization Criteria

Dear Community Partners,

The Washington State Department of Health is hosting a special Collaborative session on Wednesday, December 15^th.

To join the Collaborative Feedback Session please register here

https://withinreachwa-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsceygpjwsE93SST0-QiAQEK3XA5agDXYb

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Below are additional details of the discussion:

Under state law (RCW 28A.210.140), the State Board of Health (Board) has the authority to create immunization requirements for child care and/or school entry. Since 2006, the Board has relied on  multi-disciplinary technical advisory groups (TAG) to review vaccines against nine criteria to recommend to the Board whether an immunization should be added to the list of requirements for school entry. The Board recently directed its staff to work with the Department of Health to begin the process to collect the information necessary to convene a TAG to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine.  The TAG will consist of representatives from schools, childcares, public health, healthcare providers, tribes, community members who identify and/or directly serve communities disproportionally impacted by COVID-19; and parent representatives.

The TAG will utilize the 9-criteria framework established by the Board to assess and evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine as a requirement for school entry and provide a final recommendation to the Board.

As the preparation for the TAG is underway, Board and Department of Health staff would like your insight and feedback regarding criteria #9 which states:

The burden of compliance for the vaccine containing this antigen is reasonable for the parent/caregiver.

Since parents, families, and caregivers are often involved in obtaining vaccines for children, your feedback on this topic is essential. We recognize that getting kids vaccinated can include transporting children to medical appointments, taking time off work for those medical appointments, maintaining the child’s immunization records, etc. Vaccine requirements for childcare and school entry may also impact the health decisions that parents/families make on their child’s behalf because parents must, at the very least, take the required vaccine into account. Knowing that adding COVID-19 vaccine as a requirement for school entry will impact families across the state, we are asking for your input on the barriers parents/families may face in getting kids vaccinated and how burdensome a COVID-19 vaccine requirement may be. Feedback provided by you will be presented to the TAG during their review and discussion of criteria #9. 

Please see a few questions we’ve prepared below to help guide our discussion.

Discussion Questions:

1.       Do you believe adding COVID-19 vaccine as an immunization requirement for school entry is reasonable? Why or why not?

2.       Would adding COVID-19 vaccine as a requirement for school entry make you more or less likely to get your child vaccinated?

3.       How burdensome would an additional immunization requirement for school entry be for you and your family?

4.       What are some of the barriers to getting your child vaccinated against COVID-19?

5.       What information would you need to make the decision to get your child vaccinated against COVID-19?

6.       Additional Comments/Concerns