Whooping cough, or pertussis, vaccination requirements have resulted in California schools sending thousands of students home after reaching a state-imposed deadline.
The deadline requires all seventh- through 12th-graders to get whooping cough booster shots or signed exemptions, The Sacramento Bee reports.
In the coming weeks, thousands more students will be affected as districts hit the deadline, which requires proof of immunizations or exemptions within 30 days of the first day of school.
This week, the 30-day timeline ended for Elk Grove Unified, the region’s largest district, with 28,000 students in grades seven through 12.
On Wednesday, district officials told 200 students they would be barred from class until they provided the required paperwork, reports The Sac Bee.
For those who showed up regardless on Thursday, their parents were summoned to pick them up.
District spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich said700 students lacked the required paperwork at the start of the week. By Thursday evening, that number had dropped to 140.
In San Francisco, approximately 2,000 students were sent home Thursday, The Sac Bee reports.
The legislation was passed by lawmakers last year, requiring a whooping cough vaccination as the disease reached epidemic proportions. It killed ten infants in 2010.
