The primary goal of the School Immunization Program (SIP) is to lower the risk of vaccine preventable disease (VPD) in the organized learning environments of the early childhood and school age populations of Macomb County. The leading way to achieve this goal is through children receiving the required childhood and adolescent vaccines. The SIP provides education, support and consultation to local families, programs and schools to achieve and maintain the childhood and adolescent immunization rates at 95% or higher. The SIP works in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Michigan Childhood Improvement Registry (MCIR) in meeting or exceeding immunization requirements.

Macomb County has approximately 550 childcare and school sites, and collectively, the program and school staff must review the immunization records of approximately 50,000 children each year. The MCIR system is used to by the staff to complete and send their site’s immunization report to the SIP. All school districts/charter academies/private schools must have a completed, waived or provisional immunization record (compliancy) for at least 90% of their students for the November IP-100 report, and 95% compliancy for the February IP-100 report. All early childhood programs must have an immunization compliancy record for at least 90% of their students for the October IP-101 report. Go to www.mcir.org > School & Childcare, for information and resources.

In Michigan, all children who enroll in and attend the following programs and schools are required by law to be vaccinated in accordance with the Michigan Public Health Code Act 368 of 1978 Part 92 Immunizations. The entities include:

• Licensed childcare centers
• Head Start programs
• Preschool programs
• Public, private, charter academies, special education, alternative education, adult education, homeschool partnerships and virtual schools enrolling kindergarten through 12th grade students.

Also required by the Public Health Code, all early childhood programs licensed by the MDHHS and school-age programs registered by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), are required to report the immunization status of specific student populations. These populations include:

• Newly enrolled in a childcare center, Head Start or preschool program
• All kindergarten, including developmental kindergarten students
• All 7th grade students
• All students who enroll as new-to-district entrants in grades 1-6 and 8-12 through 18 years of age