Bacterial Meningitis Vaccination

State law requires proof of Bacterial Meningitis vaccination 10 days before attending classes for all entering students. The vaccination or booster shot must have been received during the five (5) year period prior to enrollment.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has defined the term "entering student" to apply to:

• New students - those enrolling for the first time at an institution of higher education, including students who transfer to the institution from another, and
• Returning students - those who previously attended an institution of higher education before January 1, 2012, and are enrolling in the same or another institution of higher education following a break in enrollment of at least one fall or spring semester.

Evidence of Vaccination or Booster

• The signature or stamp of a physician or his/her designee, or public health personnel on a Bacterial Meningitis Form which shows the month, day, and year the vaccination dose or booster was administered, or
• an official immunization record generated from a state or local health authority, or
• an official record received from school officials, including a record from another state.

Submit your evidence of vaccination/booster to the Office of Admissions and Records in the Arnulfo L. Oliveira Student Services Center.

Exemptions

1. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has identified exemptions to the new requirement. A student is not required to submit evidence of receiving the vaccination if he or she is:
   • 22 years of age or older by the first day of the semester, or
   • enrolled in only online courses (Online Exemption Request Form) or continuing education corporate training courses, or
   • enrolled in a continuing education course or program that is less than 360 contact hours, or
   • enrolled in a dual credit course which is taught at a public or private K-12 facility not located on a higher education institution campus, or
   • incarcerated and enrolled in continuing education or college courses at a prison facility.
2. The student may complete the Exemption from Meningococcal Vaccination Requirements for Reasons of Conscience form
3. The student must obtain a waiver, signed by a physician who is duly registered and licensed to practice medicine in the United States, stating that, in the physician’s opinion, the required vaccination for bacterial meningitis would be injurious to the student’s health and well-being.

Submit your evidence of exemption to the Office of Admissions and Records in the Arnulfo L. Oliveira Student Services Center.

Because bacterial meningitis is a serious and potentially deadly disease, applicants should consult a physician about immunizing to prevent the disease.