Heads Up! Flu Shots MANDATORY for NYC Children, Or Else They'll be Barred From Schools and Day Care

NEW YORK—Children attending day care and school-based programs in the city will be required to have an annual flu shot, starting late next year.

New York’s Board of Health voted Wednesday to mandate that children between the ages of 6 and 59 months (almost 5 years old), have the vaccine before Dec. 31, 2014. Children who have not been vaccinated by that time will be barred from schools and day care programs.

The rule affects roughly 150,000 children in New York City.

Parents who don’t want their children vaccinated can apply for either a medical or religious exemption through their school or day care center.

Between 10 and 40 percent of children under the age of 5 catch the flu every year, and 1 to 2 percent are hospitalized because of the disease, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). Last year, four children under the age of 5 died from the flu in New York City.

“Day care children are a major source of influenza spread,” Jay Varma, DOHMH deputy commissioner for disease control, told the Board of Health at a meeting in Queens Wednesday.

Varma said numerous studies showed that “herd vaccinating” children lowered flu rates for other age groups, particularly the elderly, who are especially vulnerable.

Besides the flu shot, children entering day care and other school-based programs will be required to have four doses of pneumococcal vaccination. Adding this vaccination to the requirements under the city’s health code brings the city in line with state law, health commissioner Thomas Farley said at the meeting.

Opposition to the Vaccine

The Board of Health received 276 written comments about making the influenza vaccine mandatory. Of those letters, 247 opposed the vaccination. Almost half of those who opposed the vaccinations used an identical form letter, and 25 percent came from outside the city.

Additionally, 19 people testified at a public hearing on Oct. 23, 2013—all opposed to making the vaccines mandatory. The speakers cited worries about potential harmful side effects from toxins in the vaccine, including a concern that the vaccine could be linked to autism.

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