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Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023

Did Republican state senators block a meningitis vaccine mandate for Wisconsin children?

Jacob Alabab-Moser, Wisconsin Watch
yes

On March 9, Republican lawmakers blocked new policies set by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services under Gov. Tony Evers' administration, including a meningitis vaccine requirement for students entering 7th grade and a booster requirement for those entering 12th grade.

The Republicans who run the Legislature's joint rules committee blocked the changes to Wisconsin’s administrative code until April 2024. The committee co-chairman Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, called the changes "arbitrary and capricious." 

Previously, Wisconsin recommended but did not require a meningitis vaccine for school-age children.

The committee also blocked chickenpox and meningitis from the types of "substantial outbreaks" that schools must report to the state. And the committee halted an impending mandate that parents give schools evidence from a medical provider of a chickenpox (varicella disease) infection to secure an exemption from that vaccine requirement. 

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