Answer: There is not a specific time limit on how long McKinney-Vento students can be in school while immunizations or other health records are obtained. The vast majority of students experiencing homelessness have been enrolled in school before and have had required immunizations. Those records should be a part of their school records. Since the enrolling school is required to contact the previous school for records, the information should be available quickly. The enrolling school and the McKinney-Vento liaison should work together to get immunization records as soon as possible.
If a student has not had immunizations, initial doses should be administered as soon as possible, unless the student has a philosophical, religious, or medical exemption. (It is accepted practice in the public health community that some children will not be immunized for these reasons, and the fact that most students are immunized prevents serious outbreaks from occurring.)