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Last updated:  August 12, 2009

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State Board of Health
101 Israel Rd. SE
PO Box 47990
Olympia, WA 98504
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SBOH Rules

Healthy Behaviors (Formerly Children's Health & Well-Being)


Ensuring Treatment of Newborns for Sexually Transmitted Disease

WAC 246-100-202  lists duties of health care providers related to sexually transmitted diseases. WAC 246-100-202(1)(e) guides those attending births on how to treat the eyes of an infant to prevent Opthalmia Neonatorum caused by a Gonoccocal infection. The current rule references an outdated Department of Social and Health Services policy statement issued in 1981. The policy is due for an update to reflect current science and practice standards. A Board briefing is planned for January 14, 2009.

Statutory Authority: RCW 70.24.130
SBOH Contact: Tara Wolff, 360-236-4101
DOH Contact: Bat-Sheva Stein, 360-236-3582

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Immunizations

WAC 246-100-166 governs the immunization of children in school and child care against certain vaccine-preventable diseases. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Medicine recommend routine vaccination of children against various diseases. The Board has nine criteria for assessing whether to require specific vaccines as a condition of school entry. ../Goals/HealthyBehaviors/Immunizations/index.htm

Generally, the Board waits for two years after the Department of Health has made a vaccine available to providers in Washington State. (Under the current system of universal purchasing, this would mean that the state has purchased and distributed the vaccine for two years.)   As more vaccines meet this condition, the board may elect to convene a Technical Advisory Group to apply the nine criteria to them and make recommendations to the Board.

The Board convened a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on July 25, 2007 to apply its criteria to vaccine preventable pneumococcal diseases and to make recommendations to the Board. The recommendations of the TAG were accepted by the Board on October 10, 2007.  More information available.

A CR-103 was filed on December 26, 2008 which will update the reference to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule from the 2007 version to the 2008 version; add pneumococcal to the list of vaccine-preventable diseases required to be vaccinated against in order to attend child care and preschool; re-codify WAC section 246-100-166 into multiple sections within a new chapter under WAC title 246; and clarify language.

  • CR-101 filed March 19, 2008 as WSR 08-07-097
  • CR-102 filed September 2, 2008 as WSR-08-18-061
  • CR-103 filed December 26, 2008 as WSR 09-02-003

Statutory Authority: RCW 28A.210.140
SBOH Contact: Tara Wolff, 360-236-4101
DOH Contact: Jeff Wise, 360 236 3483

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Newborn Screening

The Board adopted changes to Chapter 246-650 WAC at a public hearing on May 14, 2008. The Board approved the addition of 15 disorders to the list of conditions for which all newborns must be tested bringing the total number of disorders to 25. The 15 disorders were reviewed and recommended for screening by the Newborn Screening Advisory Committee. (For more details on the 15 new conditions and the review process, please visit http://www.sboh.wa.gov/Goals/HealthyBehaviors/NewbornScreening.)

All of the 15 new disorders are metabolic. The Department of Health begun screening infants for the new disorders in September 2008. 

Statutory Authority: RCW 43.20.050 and Chapter 70.83 RCW  
SBOH Contact: Tara Wolff, 360-236-4101
DOH Contact: Mike Glass, 206-418-5470

More information about this rule revision available.

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Vision Screening

Chapter 246-760 WAC requires school districts to screen the auditory and visual acuity of children attending schools to determine if any children have defects sufficient to retard them in their studies.  In 2005, the legislature passed SHB 1951 directing DOH to convene a workgroup to look at issues about current vision screening practices in Washington State.  The report makes recommendations to the SBOH and the legislature.  In January of 2007, the Board accepted the final workgroup report.  There were some recommendations in the report that the Board could elect to address in the next two years.

Statutory Authority: RCW 28A.210.020

SBOH Contact: Tara Wolff, 360-236-4101

DOH Contact: Teresa Cooper, 360-236-3530

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