Code of Maine Rules
10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
144 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - GENERAL
Chapter 261 - Immunization Requirements for School Children (a joint rule with the Department of Education, Ch. 126)
Section 144-261-1 - DEFINITIONS

1. Certificate of immunization means a written statement from a physician, nurse or public health official who has administered an immunizing agent to a child, specifying that the required dosage was administered and the month, day and year in which it was administered.

2. Children entering school means any child who enters a school for the first time via pre-kindergarten or kindergarten enrollment, transfers from one school to another, or otherwise enrolls in a school for the first time.

3. Disease means diphtheria, varicella (chickenpox), measles, mumps, pertussis, poliomyelitis, rubella, meningococcal meningitis and/or tetanus.

4. Enroll means to complete a formal procedure of adding or maintaining a student to a roster as a pupil in a public school or school administrative unit, as appropriate, or private school.

5. Immunizing agent means a vaccine, toxoid or other substance used to increase an individual's immunity to disease.

6. Parent means a child's parent, legal guardian, or custodian. A person is regarded as a child's custodian if that person is an adult and has assumed legal charge and care of the child.

7. Proof of Immunity means laboratory evidence of immunity or reliable documented evidence from a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant that the individual is immune to a specific disease.

8. Public health official means the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or any designated employee or agent of the Department of Health and Human Services.

9. School means any public or private elementary or secondary or special education facility providing instruction for any combination of pre-kindergarten through grade 12. For the purpose of complying with this rule, this definition includes in-person classes and remote learning programs offered by the school.

10. Student health record means documentation of health information and school nursing services provided to individual students including, but not limited to, immunizations, health screening, health assessment and nursing care plans, as needed.

11. Superintendent means the superintendent of a school administrative unit or his designee, or the chief administrative officer of a private school.