Nearly 2,200 NIU students will not be allowed to register for classes next semester if immunization policy requirements are not met.

Illinois state law and university policy require all newly enrolled students born after Jan. 1, 1957, to provide written evidence of current immune status.

Currently, the diseases to which all students must show immunity from are measles, German measles or rubella, poliomyelitis, tetanus, diphtheria and mumps.

Students who first enrolled at NIU this fall or anytime after will be required to comply with the immunization policy.

Those students who were enrolled at the university prior to this fall are exempt from the policy requirements, Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer said.

Satisfying the immunization policy requirements can be done in one of four ways. A physician can complete a form provided by the University Health Service, students can have their high school records of immunization forwarded to NIU, a student may provide a copy of military medical records or students may provide a copy of their immunization records with a physician’s signature or clinic stamp.

“We are trying to observe the human side of this procedure,” Rosemary Lane, director of University Health Services, said. “If a student is having any hardships concerning this policy we would like to know about it.”

In some cases with extraordinary circumstances, a temporary deferment may be issued, Lane said.

Failing to provide immunization documentation will result in an encumbrance of the student’s records, along with the revocation of all future registration privileges.

State law permits exemption from immunization for those people who object to immunization on a religious basis. Objections must be submitted in writing to University Health Services.