STUDENT
STUDENT WELFARE
IMMUNIZATIONS

Procedure

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BACTERIAL MENINGITIS PROCEDURES

Texas Education Code (Sections 51.9191 and 51.9192) directs that all first-time students attending Navarro College, including transfer students as well as students who are not continuously enrolled in fall or spring semesters since Fall 2011, are required to show evidence of vaccination against bacterial meningitis. Evidence of the student having received the Bacterial Meningitis vaccination from an appropriate health practitioner within the past five years must be received in the Navarro College Admissions and Records Office 1) at least ten days prior to the student’s first day in class and 2) at the time an application for residence life is submitted.

Exceptions to this standard include the following provisions as recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board:

• A student enrolls at an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education before January 1, 2012 during the previous long-term semester; or
• A student is age 22 and older (by the first day of the start of the semester); or
• A student enrolls only in online or other distance education courses; or
• A student enrolls in a continuing education course or program that is less than 360 contact hours, or continuing education corporate training; or
• A student enrolls 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
• A student is incarcerated in a Texas prison.

Additionally, a student is not required to submit evidence of receiving the vaccination against bacterial meningitis under the following circumstances:

• An affidavit or a certificate signed by a physician who is duly registered and licensed to practice medicine in the United States, in which it is stated that, in the physician’s opinion, the vaccination required would be injurious to the health and well-being of the student; or
• An affidavit signed by the student stating that the student declines the vaccination for bacterial meningitis for reasons of conscience, including a religious belief. A conscientious exemption form can obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services or Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and must be used.

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Date Issued: January 22, 2015