Nursing requirements

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So I found out I can't have any live immunization which includes varicella vaccine. My school has yet to respond to my email. Does anyone know what they will do?

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

Give them a phone call. Most likely, they will just ask for documented proofs from your provider why you can't be vaccinated.

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Sorry forgot to mention that they rejected my doctors letter. I can't even get a doctor to inject me if I wanted to.

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Specializes in ICU.

I would call the person that takes care of all of the paperwork for the nursing program. They may not let you in for liability reasons. What if you contract Hep B at clinicals?

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

will they accept titers? any chance you had it as a child already.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

That's true they maybe looking out for your safety, if you never had it as a child then wait until whatever situation you are in resolves, and you are able to take the vaccines....yep another delay to nursing school.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
I would call the person that takes care of all of the paperwork for the nursing program. They may not let you in for liability reasons. What if you contract Hep B at clinicals?

Hep B is not a live vaccine. Plus you can opt out and take your chances.

Varicella and MMR are live vaccines.

Have you tried antibody titers for MMR & varicella? If your titers show immunity that should be sufficient. If not, and the condition that prevents you from receiving live vaccines is temporary then you may need to defer admission. Varicella in a young adult can cause serious complications such as chicken pox encephalopathy. (As an EMT I nearly had a 23yo die on the way to the hospital. She thought she was immune but never had the titer poor gal caught chicken pox from one of her kindergarteners. she survived with complications)

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

I know that for my school you would be dropped from the program. This is due to hospital vaccination policy ( read as hospital is covering there rear), so school has to require it. Hospital requires it because you will come into contact with these diseases and they don't want you getting sick (read as they don't want to pay for your acquiring an illness at work). In my state, I don't know of any facilities that don't require immunity to the childhood vaccine prevented disease. So, its not just about school. If you can't meet the health requirements, then you will be hard pressed to find a job after working your butt off to graduate and become licensed.

Have you tried getting titers to see if you have immunity? If you just found out you can't get live vaccines, does this mean that you could as a child and therefore may already be vaccinated? The titers would show that. GL

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