Changes to Minnesota’s immunization laws will impact children in daycares, pre-K, kindergarten and seventh grade this fall. The new Minnesota immunization rules adopted by the Minnesota Department of Health in 2013 will apply to children enrolling in programs beginning Sept. 1. Among the biggest changes, the new rules for children in childcare and grades pre-K-12 now call for the following: • Hepatitis A and B vaccination for children enrolling in childcare or early-childhood programs • Replacement of the current seventh-grade tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccination with one that also includes pertussis (Tdap) • Meningococcal vaccination for secondary students, beginning in seventh grade. The new rules do not change the medical exemption or the option for parents to decline any or all vaccines for conscientious reasons. Some additional changes to the school and child care immunization rules modify the timing of certain doses of required vaccines and put early childhood programs that meet regularly for six weeks or more under the immunization rule.
