A new vaccination guideline for meningitis appears likely to stay on the books, following a close vote in a House committee Tuesday.
The House Health and Welfare Committee renewed far-reaching agency rules, but not without some debate, Nathan Brown of the Idaho Falls Post Register reported.
A move to ax language recommending a 12th-grade meningococcal vaccine failed by a single vote, Brown reported.
The Department of Health and Welfare added the meningococcal vaccine to its list of guidelines last year, after the Legislature narrowly approved the proposal.
Health and Welfare recommends a series of vaccinations, although none are strictly required. Parents can opt their children out of vaccinations by simply submitting a note to a school. Idaho’s vaccination opt-out rates are among the highest in the nation.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee renewed the same set of agency rules last week, Brown reported.
After an impasse over rules last year, all legislative committees are slowly working through the process of renewing thousands of pages of agency rules approved in previous years.
