Immunizations — School Health Requirements

Massachusetts General Law requires children to have the vaccines listed below before attending Cambridge Schools. The following vaccination requirements apply to all students, including individuals from other countries or states.

3-Year-Olds & Preschoolers

  • Hepatitis B – 3 doses
  • DTaP/DT/Td –  4 doses
  • Polio – 3 doses
  • MMR – 1 dose
  • Varicella – 1 dose or physician documented history of Chicken Pox
  • Please note – You must provide the most recent physical exam record and TB Risk Assessment or PPD to the school nurse when your child starts school.

Junior Kindergarten/Kindergarten

  • Hepatitis B – 3 doses
  • DTaP/DT/Td – 5 doses
  • Polio – 4 doses (4th dose must be given on or after the 4th birthday and ≥6 months after the previous dose, or a 5th dose is required)
  • MMR – 2 doses
  • Varicella – 2 dose or physician documented history of Chicken Pox
  • Lead Screening – You must provide your child’s lead test results to the school nurse. Children who have never been screened for lead poisoning must be tested to fulfill kindergarten entry requirements.
  • Please note – You must provide the most recent physical exam record and TB Risk Assessment or PPD to the school nurse when your child starts school.

Grades 1 – 6

  • Hepatitis B – 3 doses
  • DTaP/DT/Td/Tdap – >4 doses DTaP/DTP or > 3 doses Td
  • Polio – 4 doses (4th dose must be given on or after the 4th birthday and ≥6 months after the previous dose, or a 5th dose is required)
  • MMR – 2 doses
  • Varicella – 2 doses
  • Please note – You must provide the most recent physical exam record and TB Risk Assessment or PPD to the school nurse when your child starts school.

Grades 7 – 12

All of the requirements for Grades JK-6 plus an additional Tdap booster and at least one dose of meningococcal vaccine.

  • Hepatitis B – 3 doses
  • Tdap Booster – Grade 7 – 12
  • DTaP/DT/Td/Tdap – 4 doses DTaP/DTP or >3 doses Td; plus 1
    dose Tdap
  • Polio – 4 doses (4th dose must be given on or after the 4th birthday and ≥6 months after the previous dose, or a 5th dose is required. 3 doses are acceptable if the 3rd dose is given on or after the 4th birthday and ≥6 months)
  • Meningococcal – 1 dose, 7th graders and up, plus 1 booster dose for students entering grade 11.
  • MMR – 2 doses (grade 12: 2 doses measles, 1 mumps, 1 rubella)
  • Varicella – 2 dose or physician documented history of chicken pox (Grade 12 only 1 dose)
  • Please note – You must provide the most recent physical exam record and TB Risk Assessment or PPD to the school nurse when your child starts school.

The immunizations listed above represent the minimum requirements set by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (105 CMR 220) before admission to school. Parents/guardians may register a child with incomplete immunizations, but children will not be admitted to school without documentation that these immunizations have been completed.

Updated: June 21, 2022