Can College require me to provide proof of immunizations?
March 26, 2008 10:28 AM   Subscribe

Can College require me to provide proof of immunizations and with hold registration/acceptace if I do not provide?

I am applying to graduate school at local private University. They are requring me to provide proof of immunizations (Measles, Mumps, Rubella, MMR) or I cannot register for classes.
I attended this same school in 2004 for another graduate program and did not have to provide proof of immunizations for admitenance. Apparently this is a new policy.

Do they have the right to require this for registration of courses in a private school? (I live and will attend school in the state of Iowa).

The problem I am having is the continued use of private medical information (regardless of how insignificant) being at the disposal of other individuals.
posted by lutzla23 to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)
 
I'd say, "yes, they can." You have a right to withold that information, and they have a right to not let you register as a result.
posted by stuboo at 10:32 AM on March 26, 2008


If you are an international student, you have to have these by law to enter graduate school in Iowa. For local students, I can only find immunization requirements up to and including middle school (I'll keep checking). Are you a resident of Iowa? Are you a US citizen?
posted by misha at 10:35 AM on March 26, 2008




It may be a recently revamped requirement. I think Iowa went through an outbreak of mumps last year.
posted by sanka at 10:37 AM on March 26, 2008


Many universities do this. Yes, they can prevent you from registering, and revoke your admission if it comes down to it.

Get the shots.
posted by griffey at 10:38 AM on March 26, 2008


I believe so. I once had a professor who told me he claimed to be a christian scientist when he attended graduate school because they demanded official immunization records, and the only ones he had were written in his mother's hand.
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:38 AM on March 26, 2008


Maybe it would make you feel better to realize that this isn't just random bureaucracy? They're doing it for public health reasons.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 10:44 AM on March 26, 2008


Response by poster: Hi all,

This is great information.

To answer a few questions sent:

-I am a US Citizen and a Iowa Resident
-I do have all the immunizations - however again this is more of a disclosure of medical information that I have a problem with.
-They do allow a religious wavior but I have to jump through hoops to do.

It sounds like I will have to submit them anyhow, thanks again everyone!
posted by lutzla23 at 10:45 AM on March 26, 2008


I can only speak for Massachusetts, where many schools require it under state law. You may opt out of at least some vaccinations, however, for various reasons (e.g., religious or medical), but you need to fill out paperwork to that effect.

The problem I am having is the continued use of private medical information (regardless of how insignificant) being at the disposal of other individuals.

I definitely see your point, especially as there have been plenty of private data breaches in the past. (Mostly, it's companies losing SSNs and the sort, though, not medical stuff.) However, in this case, the worst possible scenario is that someone finds out that you had your MMR vaccine. By contrast, the admissions office here has all sorts of personal data on me, including my Social Security Number, in their databases. Perhaps the most effective course of action would be to ask them for their privacy policies on all of this, and ask about what safeguards protect the data.
posted by fogster at 10:52 AM on March 26, 2008


"Do they have the right to require this for registration of courses in a private school?"

With some exceptions (though not many), they have the right to require whatever they want. For any reason or no reason at all. Put another way: you don't have any sort of affirmative right to attend the school in question, nor to be allowed to register.

The vast majority of the laws mentioned/cited above deal with public schools/institutions which operate by a much different set of rules.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:19 AM on March 26, 2008


I'm not sure how helpful this will be to you, but I have a permanent medical exemption from vaccinations and all my college required to permit my enrollment was a letter from my doctor stating the legitimacy of my exemption and my promise to leave campus if something particularly insidious came around.

I understand that you *are* vaccinated, but the college has a right to protect students on campus. To basically agree with what has already been said, I'm sure you have to have some sort of documentation. I'm also not really sure what you think they're going to do with the knowledge of your vaccination history.
posted by Flamingo at 11:40 AM on March 26, 2008


I do have all the immunizations - however again this is more of a disclosure of medical information that I have a problem with.

Yet you don't seem to have a problem broadcasting this information with strangers on the internet?

The school probably has a privacy/non-disclosure statement regarding your medical info (which the internets doesn't have). Ask them for a copy of this if they have not otherwise provided it. Read it. Ask questions about the parts you don't understand. Then turn over your shot record.

PS - I'm telling everyone that you got your shots. Expect black helicopters at any moment.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:24 PM on March 26, 2008


As others have said, the university has the right to require this of you and the right to bar you from registration if the vaccination box is not checked in your records. This is pure and simple public health; campuses are ideal breeding grounds for communicable diseases like measles, mumps, etc.

HIPAA passed after I stopped being a college administrator, but IIRC we treated vaccination information like any other personal information (except, obviously, if someone was registered that person had to have been vaccinated). I assume that, whether vaccinations are considered HIPAA-covered or not, most colleges/universities have established appropriate use policies for medical records. For what it's worth, though, a shot record is probably the most benign piece of medical information out there; you have to provide a vaccine record to register for primary school in many states, so it's not information that is particularly privileged or useful.
posted by catlet at 12:52 PM on March 26, 2008


I can assure you 100% that they can put a hold on your account, resulting in your not being able to register, etc. I work in a university health center, so this is coming from a person who today has made requests to the registrar's office to place those holds. As far as what vaccinations are required, it varies by school, the head nurse, whether you're living on-campus or off, etc. At this university in St. Louis we require nothing of commuter students, unless they are health professional students (going into Nursing, Occupational Therapy, etc.) and if they are, their teachers require an assload of things. Those living on-campus have to provide MMR dates, physical within last year, polio vaccination, tetanus shot within last 10 years, date when they had chicken pox, meningitis vaccine, and TB test from within the last year. Athletes also have to provide a ton more stuff.
Yeah, it could be a new policy or something; the head nurse is always complaining about the ever-changing medical guidelines as presented from these national official sources. For instance, it used to be okay for our students to just provide the year they had chicken pox, but it's recently been changed to having to provide a Varicella titer, where they draw your blood and see if it results in positive. From your post, it sounds like you already have the necessary shots, but aren't crazy about releasing your private health record yet again. Understandable.
posted by thebellafonte at 12:53 PM on March 26, 2008


Yes, and they will absolutely enforce the penalties if you don't comply.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:36 PM on March 26, 2008


Yup.
posted by OmieWise at 4:21 AM on March 27, 2008


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