Medical Mixups Stymie Students

Over 2,000 would-be matriculants found their attempts to register online for the new academic term turned back due to incomplete immunization records, according to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) registrar.

State law requires that all postsecondary school students have full documentation of measles, rubella, hepatitis B, and tetanus vaccinations.

“The laws aren’t new,” said University Health Services (UHS) Director David S. Rosenthal ’59. But, he added, an outbreak of measles at the John Hancock Tower in Boston this summer was one factor behind the ramped-up immunization efforts. 

FAS Registrar Barry S. Kane said that his office had heard a number of complaints from students claiming they have still been unable to register, even after being told their immunization compliance issues were settled.

Kane explained that his office provides the ability for other arms of the University to place a “hold” on the registration of a student in order to force compliance with matters ranging from termbill payments to immunizations.

The system is supposed to provide real-time clearance of holds once issues are settled, but this was not the case for many. Kane said that the unusually-high number of students seeking clearance this week has swamped UHS staff.

Rosenthal said that though there are “always a significant number of people” that cannot register immediately due to immunization troubles, increased compliance efforts this year produced an exceptional number.

“Yes, it’s been a little tough on people that they can’t just register online,” said Rosenthal. “We’re working our hardest to make sure that we can get people through the system as quick as possible,” he said.

UHS will hold a walk-in immunization clinic from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. this Thursday on the second floor of its Holyoke Center headquarters.

Rosenthal said “we’ve been at risk” in years past with non-immunized students on campus, but that the week’s difficulties would result in nearly full compliance among the student body.

“People were told about this back in the summertime,” Rosenthal said, adding that information on immunization is readily available on the UHS website.

Alan J. Tabak ’07 was one of the hundreds rejected by the online registration tool.

Though he had received all three parts of the Hepatitis B vaccination series, Tabak was told that the time sequence they were issued in would require that he receive a booster shot.

The injection Tabak received cost $50, with Harvard’s own health insurance provider refusing to cover the cost, he said.

“When I walked out of UHS, the line in the basement for medical records was literally out of the door,” said Tabak, who is also a Crimson editor.

—Staff writer Nicholas A. Ciani can be reached at nciani@fas.harvard.edu.