Out of more than 1,000 high school seniors in the area’s two schools, only one missed any school for lack of an immunization against the bacteria that cause meningitis.
A new state law required all seniors show documentation of having received an anti-meningitis shot before Oct. 15. At Buffalo Grove High School, every student turned in their forms on time, according to Patrick Mogge, the district’s director of community engagement and outreach.
At Stevenson High School, spokesman Jim Conrey wrote in an email that the staff turned one student away on Oct. 15, but the student came back the next day with the needed doctor’s note.
The law allows for exemptions for religious and a handful of other reasons. Conrey said no Stevenson students received an exemption. Throughout District 214, which is made up of six large high schools, Mogge said 15 students got a pass.
Eight hundred to 1,500 cases of meningitis occur annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Around 15 percent are fatal.
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