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Title: Section 66-1.1 - Definitions

Effective Date

12/31/2019

Section 66-1.1 Definitions.

As used in this Subpart unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) School means and includes a public, private or parochial child-caring center, day-care agency providing day care of children as defined in this section, nursery school as defined in this section, kindergarten, and any elementary, intermediate or secondary class or school building.

(b) Child means and includes any person between the ages of two months and 18 years.

(c) Day care of children means:

(1) outside the City of New York, care provided to children away from the child's residence, for less than 24 hours per day in a licensed child day care center or a group family day care, for compensation or otherwise, for at least three hours a day.

(2) in the City of New York, any service which, during all or part of the day, regularly gives care to six or more children, not of common parentage, who are under six years of age, whether or not the care is given for compensation and whether or not it has a stated educational purpose. The total number of children receiving care shall be counted, including children or foster children of the owner or person in charge, in determining the applicability of this definition. The term shall not, however, include a service which gives care to children for five or less hours a week or a service which operates for one month a year or less.

(d) Nursery school means a place, other than one providing day care of children as defined in this section, in which organized instruction is provided for children prior to entering any public or non-public school.

(e) Health practitioner means any person authorized by law to administer an immunization. This includes a physician, nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife caring for a pregnant student, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse under the direction of a registered nurse, or physician's assistant.

(f) Fully immunized means that an adequate dosage and number of doses of an immunizing agent licensed by the United States Food and Drug Administration has been received commensurate with the child's age, or the child has been demonstrated to have immunity as defined in this section. 

(1) For those immunizations required by section 2164 of the Public Health Law only, the number of doses that a child shall have at any given age, and the minimum intervals between these doses, shall be in accordance with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger, issued by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) as referenced in Chapter 35 of the Laws of 2019 and posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Any child who completed an immunization series following minimum intervals prescribed in an ACIP Recommended Immunization Schedule pre-dating February 2019 shall continue to be deemed in compliance as long as the number of vaccine doses the child received conforms to the current ACIP Recommended Immunization Schedule. 

(i) For all vaccinations, except as provided in subparagraphs (ii) through (vii) of this paragraph, children shall be assessed upon school entry or attendance, and annually thereafter, and be fully immunized commensurate with their age. 

(ii) Any child who has satisfied the immunization requirements in effect in regulation on June 30, 2014, entering twelfth grade (or comparable age level grade equivalents) in the 2019-2020 school year only, shall be deemed in compliance with the immunization requirements set forth in this section, including those set forth in subparagraphs (iii) through (vi) of this paragraph, until such child graduates from school; provided, however, that such child shall comply with the meningococcal vaccination requirement set forth in subparagraph (vii) of this paragraph.  

(iii) Any child entering or attending kindergarten through twelfth grade must have received the following vaccine doses, with the minimum intervals between these doses as established by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger:  

(a) Two adequate doses of measles containing vaccine, two adequate doses of mumps containing vaccine, and at least one adequate dose of rubella containing vaccine; and 

(b) Five adequate doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine. If, however, the fourth dose of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine was given at 48 months of age or older, only four adequate doses of vaccine are required. The final dose of vaccine must be received no sooner than 48 months of age. Doses given after age seven should start with one dose of Tdap.  

(iv) Four adequate doses of poliomyelitis vaccine. If, however, the third adequate dose of poliomyelitis vaccine was given at 48 months of age or older, only three adequate doses of vaccine are required. The final dose of vaccine must be received no sooner than 48 months of age. Beginning on or after September 1, 2016, children shall be assessed upon entry or attendance to child-caring centers, day-care agencies, nursery schools and pre-kindergarten programs and must be fully immunized against poliomyelitis commensurate with their age. 

(v) Two adequate doses of varicella vaccine.  

(vi) By entry to sixth grade or a comparable age level grade equivalent, any child 11 years of age or older must have received one dose of a booster immunization containing tetanus and diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine. 

(vii) For meningococcal vaccination, beginning on and after September 1, 2016, children shall be assessed upon entry or attendance to seventh grade, or a comparable age level grade equivalent, and must have received one adequate dose of vaccine upon such entry or attendance. Children shall be assessed upon entry or attendance to twelfth grade, or a comparable age level grade, and must have received two adequate doses of meningococcal vaccine upon such entry or attendance. If, however, the first dose of meningococcal vaccine was given at 16 years of age or older, then only one adequate dose of meningococcal vaccine is required for twelfth grade.

(2) If a child is not fully immunized, catch-up immunization must then take place according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger.

(g) Immunity means that:

(1) for measles, mumps, and rubella, a child has had a positive serologic test, as defined in subdivision (h) of this section, for those diseases, or laboratory confirmation of disease, as defined in subdivision (k) of this section;

(2) for varicella, a child has either had a positive serologic test, as defined in subdivision (h) of this section; laboratory confirmation of disease, as defined in subdivision (k) of this section; or had the disease as verified by a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant statement;

(3) for hepatitis B, a child has had a positive serologic test, as defined in subdivision (h) of this section; or

(4) for poliomyelitis, positive serologic tests, as defined in subdivision (h) of this section, for all three serotypes of poliomyelitis, performed prior to September 1, 2019. Serologic tests against poliomyelitis performed on or after September 1, 2019 will not be accepted in place of poliomyelitis vaccination.

(h) Serologic test means a blood test for Immunoglobulin G (IgG), or for hepatitis B, a blood test for hepatitis B surface antibody, as determined by the testing lab's criteria. Serology results reported as equivocal are not acceptable proof of immunity. A positive serologic test can be accepted in place of vaccination only for the following diseases: measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B and all three serotypes of poliomyelitis found in the polio vaccines.

(i) Age appropriate means that vaccine doses administered within four calendar days of the recommended minimum age or interval will be considered valid.

(j) In process means that:

(1) a child has received at least the first dose in each immunization series required by section 2164 of the Public Health Law (except in the case of live vaccines in which a child should wait 28 days after one live vaccine administration before receiving another live vaccine, if the vaccines were not given on the same day) and has age appropriate appointments to complete the immunization series according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger; or

(2) a child has had blood drawn for a serologic test and is awaiting test results within 14 days after the blood draw; or

(3) a child's serologic test(s) are negative, and therefore the child in question has appointments to be immunized within 30 days of notification of the parent/guardian to complete, or begin completion, of the immunization series based on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger.

(4) Children who are not fully immunized can only continue to attend school if they are in the process of completing the immunization series based on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger. If a child does not receive subsequent doses of vaccine in an immunization series according to the age appropriate ACIP catch-up schedule, including at appropriate intervals, the child is no longer in process and must be excluded from school within 14 days after the minimum interval identified by the ACIP catch-up schedule, if not otherwise exempt in accordance with section 66-1.3 of this Subpart.

(k) Laboratory confirmation of disease means, for measles, mumps, rubella or varicella, a positive laboratory test, either culture or polymerase chain reaction, detecting either the virus or viral-specific nucleic acid in a clinical specimen from the child or, for measles or rubella, a positive blood test for Immunoglobulin M (IgM) where such positive laboratory test is not otherwise explained by recent vaccination.

(l) May be detrimental to the child’s health means that a physician has determined that a child has a medical contraindication or precaution to a specific immunization consistent with ACIP guidance or other nationally recognized evidence-based standard of care.

(m) Attend or admit means enrolled in, or admitted to, a school for the purpose of participating in or receiving services at such school, including but not limited to special education or related services, participating in intra-scholastic or interscholastic sports, or other school-sponsored events or activities; or being transported on a school bus or vehicle with other school children; except where such services, transportation, events, or activities are open to the general public.

 

Statutory Authority

Public Health Law Sections 2164 and 2168

Volume

VOLUME A-1a (Title 10)

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