Health

Oregon Students Have Until Feb. 15 To Be Vaccinated

By Dave Blanchard (OPB)
Portland, Oregon Feb. 15, 2017 12:14 a.m.

Steven Depolo/Flickr

Wednesday is the deadline for parents of Oregon students to get their children vaccinated.

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Parents are allowed to seek immunization waivers if their children have health concerns, or if they have personal or religious objections to vaccines.

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Jackson County in Southern Oregon has pockets with extremely low vaccination rates. Twenty-five percent of Ashland students have exemptions.

Jackson Baures, the division manager of the Jackson County Public Health Department, said people have been taking advantage of the shots offered at the agency.

“We have had some folks in the past couple days, we’ve seen an increase in traffic," he said. "Historically on exemption day, it gets very busy here.”

The state and Jackson County saw a decrease in exemptions in 2015 when a new law went into effect that required parents seeking an exemption to talk to a doctor or watch an informative video.

But the rates increased again last year. Public health officials hope they can reverse that trend in 2017.

The Oregon Health Authority has a list of required shots on its website.

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