As New Hampshire Republican lawmakers try to roll back vaccine requirements for children, several lawmakers also want to prohibit vaccination clinics at public schools during school hours. HB 1449 would also require parents or guardians to be present when vaccines are given at school-based clinics.
But many of these clinics aren’t happening anyway, due to lack of funding.
The state Department of Health and Human Services stopped funding the school-based clinics due to “ongoing changes in federal funding,” said spokesperson Kathleen Remillard. As a result, the 13 regional public health networks that used that money to hold clinics aren’t offering them this school year.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Linda McGrath of Hampton, did not return a message. A public hearing for the bill is scheduled for Feb. 25.
Damian Santana, of Granite United Way’s Capital Area Health Network, said his team provided flu vaccine clinics for 14 New Hampshire schools last year, typically during the first part of the school day. Other public health networks did the same.
Parents had to sign a consent form to have their children vaccinated and clinic staff verified the identity of students three times before vaccinating them, Santana said. Parents did not have to be present.
Still, a bill that bans school-based clinics is concerning, Santana said.
“In the event that there is a public health emergency warranting the need for such clinics in the future, it may be more challenging to do so,” he said.
Santana said school-based clinics were well received by parents because they made it easy to have their child vaccinated against the flu, and students who were nervous about getting shots appreciated having a school nurse they knew with them.
Remillard, a spokesperson for the state health department, said the state is still funding routine immunizations for any child under 19. Families can still get vaccines at no cost for their children through doctor's offices, urgent cares, and pharmacies, she said.
Republican lawmakers proposed similar restrictions on school-based vaccine clinics in 2023 after a lawmaker said a student had received a Covid vaccine at school by mistake and without a parent's consent. That bill failed. Schools no longer provide Covid vaccines.
Pam DiNapoli, president of the New Hampshire School Nurses Association, says she’s also unaware of any schools that are currently hosting clinics during the school day.
DiNapoli said schools still offering clinics do so outside of school hours and in partnership with local health departments.
“It doesn't happen very much anymore,” she said.
The bill is one of several anti-vaccine bills Republicans are pursuing at the State House.
One would eliminate the Hepatitis B vaccine and another would make it easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements for religious reasons.
A third bill that would have eliminated all childhood vaccine requirements was defeated in the House 192-155 with members of both parties voting against it.
The vast majority of children attending public schools in New Hampshire are vaccinated even as lawmakers have made it easier for parents to seek vaccine exemptions.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services most recent report, nearly 93 percent of students in public and private schools were up to date on their vaccines as of last school year. Just over 3 percent of children had obtained a religious exemption to the vaccine requirements.
