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Required Immunizations

Entering medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, SHRP and other healthcare professional students are required to have the following:

• Two- dose Varicella vaccination series given at least 30 days apart OR proof of immunity through blood titer for students who have had a previous Varicella infection is required.
• Proof of up-to-date Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis vaccine. The last dose must have been given within 10 years. If only tetanus /diphtheria vaccine (Td) was administered, a single booster dose of Tdap is required. Tdap can be administered regardless of the interval since the last dose of Td. International students must provide documentation of 3 previous doses of Tetanus/diphtheria. One of these must be Tdap vaccine.
• Proof of completion of a three-dose series of hepatitis B and a the results (may be positive or negative) of a hepatitis B surface antibody test is required. If you have not completed the series before school entry, the 2nd and/ or 3rd doses may be obtained at Student/Employee Health for a fee. The series MUST be completed by the end of the first semester.
• Documentation of 2 doses of live MMR (measles, mumps and Rubella) vaccine for persons born in 1957 or later. The doses must have been administered at least 28 days apart and at or after 12 months of age. Laboratory evidence of immunity to measles, mumps and rubella OR laboratory confirmation of disease OR birth before 1957 is acceptable.
• Meningococcal vaccine: Students with anatomic or functional asplenia or persistent complement component deficiencies should have received a 2-dose meningococcal conjugate vaccine series.
• Mandatory annual influenza vaccine once between September-December for students who have no contraindications.

Post-graduate or other research students who will be working solely in a laboratory are required to meet the above vaccine requirements. In addition, microbiologists who are routinely exposed to N. meningitides isolates are required to have received one dose of meningococcal vaccine with a booster dose every 5 years, if the risk of exposure continues.

Reference: Immunization of Health-Care Personnel: Recommendations of ACIP. MMWR 2011; 60 (RR07):1-45.

For more information on immunization requirements, refer to the UMMC Student Immunizations Policy.

Tuberculosis screening

A two-step TB Skin test is required for baseline TB screening of all students. Accepted students must submit documentation of a two-step TB skin test performed within 90 days (3 months) prior to school entry. The second dose of the two-step TB test must be placed within 28 days of the initial TB skin test. If the TB skin test is positive, a chest X-ray report must also be submitted. U.S. students who have been undergoing annual TB skin test screening prior to enrollment may submit 2 consecutive annual reports of negative TB skin tests, one of which must have been done within the past 3 months, in lieu of the two-step TB skin test.

International students with a previous positive TB skin test or students with a history of immunization with BCG should submit a report of a QuantiFERON-TB Gold/T-spot TB blood test obtained within 3 months prior to school entry. They should not complete TB skin testing. If the blood test is positive, a chest X-ray report obtained within 3 months of school entry must be submitted.