Seattle public school students barred from returning until they get vaccinations
Thousands of students in Seattle have 10 days to get vaccinated or they will not be allowed to go to school. This comes after Washington state had two measles outbreaks this year, one forcing a state of emergency.
The Seattle Public Schools district issued a notice to families saying their kids could not attend school "until the required information is provided to the school nurse." Students must be vaccinated by January 8, CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports.
"If any students show up on the 8th and they don't have their records up to date, they'll be put aside in a room, their parents will be contacted to come and collect the students," said Tim Robinson, a spokesperson for the district.
Seattle Public Schools said roughly 2,000 students need to get vaccinated. Washington had 87 confirmed cases of the measles this year, prompting the state ban vaccine exemptions for personal or philosophical reasons for measles, mumps and rubella.
A number of other states also have taken action as the United States has seen its most measles cases in 27 years. Nearly 1,300 cases were reported through November.
Last December, Rockland County in New York barred unvaccinated children from schools with low vaccination rates. By June, New York passed a new law that applied to all public and private schools in the state that eliminated religious exemptions for vaccinations.
Two Seattle schools will be open for free vaccinations Monday and Tuesday.