Wesson News
All students enrolling for the first time at WAC must comply with Mississippi immunization requirements against communicable diseases, and entering seventh graders must show proof of an adolescent whooping cough (pertussis) booster vaccination.
Current state entry immunization requirements encompass vaccinations that provide protection against:
Diptheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP)
Polio (IPV)
Hepatitis B
Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR)
Varicella (chickenpox)
COVID-19 vaccinations are not required.
Mississippi instituted the whooping cough booster (Tdap) vaccination requirement in 2012-13 due to increasing concern about pertussis -- a highly contagious and life-threatening disease that adolescents can contract and easily transmit to younger children. Immunity to pertussis from early childhood vaccinations weakens over time.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) also suggests consideration of vaccinations against meningococcal disease and human papillomavirus (HPV), and a varicella (chickenpox) booster as well for teenagers. Doctors, other health care providers, and county health departments provide vaccinations and complete the Form #121 Certificate of Immunization Compliance to present to schools.
MSDH will consider exemptions from one or more required vaccinations for medical or religions reasons explained on completed and signed applications -- Form 139-M Medical Exemption Request and Form 139 R Religious Exemption Request. A child’s pediatrician, family physician or internist licensed in Mississippi or a tertiary care physician outside the state must complete and sign Form 139-M. A parent or guardian must complete and sign Form 139-R and must schedule an appointment with MSDH officials to discuss the application.
Children with either a Certificate of Medical or Religious Exemption who are not adequately immunized will be excluded from school if a vaccine-preventable infectious disease is present in their communities or there is a threat of one occurring, and will continue to be excluded from school until the disease is no longer present or they no longer are a safety threat to other children in the school.
For more information about vaccine exemptions, visit www.msdh.ms.gov.
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