No Shots, No School: Metro Wants Students Immunized And In Class

According to state law, an official Tennessee certificate of immunization must be provided to the school before the child can attend. Credit: Gates Foundation/ Flickr

Officials with Metro Schools don’t want to send thousands of kids home on the first day again this year.

Seventh graders are now required by state law to be vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Across the state, schools turned away hundreds of students without the proper records last August. In Metro, more than 3,000 students were dismissed from class.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean says he wants to avoid another huge disruption.

“Way too many seventh graders were sent home from school last year because they could not prove they received all the shots required by state law.”

To encourage families to get their paperwork together early, the city is giving away backpacks to the first thousand who turn in immunization certificates at the Lentz Public Health Center this week.