Request By:
Mr. Charles E. Hume, Administrator
Bowling Green-Warren County Health Department
1133 Adams Street
Post Office Box 1157
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Acting Deputy Attorney General
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider a new Administrative Regulation adopted by the Department for Human Resources which concerns immunization of school children. The Administrative Regulation became effective on or about July 18, 1979, and is an addition to 902 KAR 2:060;
"A school child who has begun but not completed the immunization schedule required by KRS 158.035 may be permitted to attend classes for a limited period of time specified by the individual physician or local health department as necessary for the completion of the immunization schedule."
Your questions are as follows:
"(1) Does this amendment permit students to enroll in school contrary to the intent of KRS 158.035?
(2) Is this amendment in conflict with KRS 158.035, which says in part . . . that the child has been immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, rubeola and rubella in accordance with this section. . . .
(3) Is this amendment in conflict with 902 KAR 2:060, Section 1, which is the recommended schedule for active immunization?
(4) Does KRS 158.035 permit the Department for Human Resources to regulate the requirements for school entry, or simply to establish a schedule for required immunizations?
(5) Is the issuance of the Provisional Immunization Certificate (a copy of which is attached), which states: The above named student has not been completely immunized, but has received at least one (1) dose of each vaccine required by Kentucky school immunization law . . ., in conflict with KRS 158.035, or its intent?
(6) Does KRS 158.035 require complete immunization or partial immunization before school entry when it says . . . that the child has been immunized against. . . .?"
It is of the opinion of this office that the above amendment to the Administrative Regulations is not contrary to KRS 158.035 nor in conflict with 902 KAR 2:060, Section 1. KRS 158.035 reads as follows:
"Except as otherwise provided in KRS 214.036, no child shall be eligible to enroll as a student in any public or private elementary or secondary school without first presenting a certificate from a duly licensed medical or osteopathic physician stating that the child has been immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, rubeola, and rubella in accordance with the provisions of this section and KRS 214.010, 214,020, 214.032 to 214.036 and 214.990 and the regulations of the secretary for human resources. The governing body of private and public schools shall enforce the provisions of this section."
The reason we believe this regulation is sound rests upon the fact that immunization must medically be viewed in the sense of levels of immunization. Even after only one shot, there is a level of immunization, and as we understand it a medically satisfactory one. The school law requires immunization against communicable diseases but does not address the level of immunization needed. When a child has begun on an immunization schedule, he is to a degree, then immunized against the particular communicable disease in issue. We see no reason to read the school statute requiring a certificate of immunization before a child is eligible to enroll in school as requiring a certificate that the immunization schedule has been completed. We see this new Department for Human Resources regulation complimenting the requirements for school entry purposes of KRS 158.035. Under the regulation, it will only be necessary for a child to enroll in school that at least the so called "first level" of immunizations as required by law and regulation are satisfied. We do caution, however, that an effort must be made by school officials and health officials to see that the additional levels of immunizations for completion of the immunization schedules are accomplished for each school child. We do note that the provisional immunization certificate form that has been prepared for use pursuant to the new Administrative Regulation states that the provisional immunization certificate is valid only through the date "at which time the schedule of required immunizations will be completed and a full certificate will be issued."
We will be sending a copy of this advisory opinion to the State Department of Education and to the Division for Preventive Services in the State Department for Human Resources. A copy also will be sent to the public common school systems in Warren County.