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Parents of unvaccinated kids face fines
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(Examiner file)
More than 900 Prince George’s County schoolchildren remained out of compliance with their immunization requirements Monday. Prince George’s County officials are still holding out the threat of jail and fines for parents of more than 900 public school children who are still aren’t up to date on county-mandated vaccinations — but so far authorities haven’t filed any criminal charges. County authorities had originally set Saturday as the deadline for parents of unvaccinated children to comply or be subject to arrest. But now officials are saying that it will be at least after the long Thanksgiving weekend — and maybe weeks more — before their crackdown begins. “Our goal is to get all of these kids in classes safely without putting their parents in jail,” state’s attorney spokesman Ramon Korionoff said Monday. After a free daylong clinic held Saturday at the county courthouse in Upper Marlboro, 939 children remained out of compliance with their immunizations Monday, either because they did not have all the shots required under state law or because their records had not been updated with the county. “We are going through our records from the weekend and updating them and will be preparing information for the state’s attorney,” schools spokesman John White said Monday. The school system is working on developing a list of noncompliant children to turn over to the courts within the next several days, White said, though he did not know exactly when it would be ready. After State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey’s office has the list, officials will screen each case to determine whether parents were negligent or whether other factors prevented them from immunizing their children, Korionoff said. He said he expected the review could take up to two weeks. No parents had been charged or summoned as of Monday, he said. Ivey announced last week that parents of up to as many as 2,300 children could face fines of up to $50 per day or 10 days in jail for failing to fully immunize their children. Thousands of those children had been barred from attending school for weeks after missing a Sept. 30 immunization deadline. By the end of last week after Ivey’s announcement, 1,111 children remained out of compliance. Of those, 172 turned out Saturday and are now up to date, White said. “We still have some work but it was definitely a success,” White said of the clinic. |
