According to nurse coordinator Kandyce Hardie, starting in the 2014-2015 school year, there will be a new immunization requirement: senior students must get the meningitis shot, again, if they didn’t receive it after the age of 16.

Hardie said, “(The meningitis shot) a booster shot, so everyone has to have one, so if (students) received their shot before their sixteenth birthday, they’ll need to get a second one, but if they received it after their sixteenth birthday, then they won’t need a second booster.”

Because of this new requirement, officially released state-wide this week from Indiana State Department of Health, the nurses urge students to get their shots as soon as possible, before the spring.

Hardie said, “We’re trying to encourage students to get their shots early so that we don’t have a huge push later on, because it’s going to be hard to get into pediatricians’ offices if students wait until next this coming spring to get their shots.”

Madison Stewart, nurse’s assistant and senior, said even though this won’t apply to her next year, she thinks it is a good change.

Stewart said, “Even though lots of people disagree with getting shots and that kind of stuff, I still think this is nice because it keeps everybody safe, so in that aspect, I would and will always get shots because I don’t like being sick, even though I hate getting shots, and I want to keep everybody safe.”