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Over 1,000 PSS students face registration difficulties due to immunization records
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Posted on Jul 24 2020
Due to limited accommodation at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s Public Health Immunization Program office, over 1,000 students are unable to update their immunization records to acquire a health certificate—a major requirement to register for the upcoming school year.
According to Lynette Villagomez, Public School System senior director, over 1,000 students have not updated their immunization records.
She noted that CNMI law requires a student to present a health certificate when enrolling in school. However, in order to acquire a health certificate, students must update their immunization records. The problem, Villagomez said, is that the Public Health immunization program office can only accommodate 35 appointments in the morning and 35 in the afternoon— thus allowing the office to comply with COVID-19 social distancing rules. That rule has resulted in a backlog among students needing to have their shots updated.
In a report to the Board of Education last week, Villagomez said she met with Division of Public Health officials to inform them about the number of students who need to update their immunization records. “They have reached out to PSS to see how we can work together to make this a lot easier for parents to access updated immunization and updated health certificates that students need to submit for school registration,” Villagomez said.
Villagomez said that PSS has also asked CHCC to waive the $5 certificate fee for students. “We are hoping we get positive information on that so we can help our parents because we do have parents with more than one child,” she added.
Recently, PSS launched an online registration process for students in school year 2020-2021.
“If a parent has it [immunization record], then they should be able to upload their child’s health certificate. If they don’t have it, then they have 30 days from the day that they submitted their online enrollment form to submit it,” Villagomez said.
For more information, visit the PSS Facebook page.
