from HPV to covid the debate over vaccine requirements for students in New Jersey is nothing new but the state is reviewing its current policies and will update its guidelines by next year so what will be recommended what will be required and what will parents have to say in the matter joining me now is NJ Spotlight news Health writer Lilo Stainton to help break it down Lilo thanks so much for being with us right now we know what can happen when you put the words vaccine and mandate together in a sentence we've seen it before what can you tell us about what the state's considering when it comes to a covid vaccine mandate for students well the state will be very clear I mean sort of clear they're not considering that um they they essentially this whole confusion if you will stems from um what the state said as an attempt to update regulations that have to be updated every seven years they're getting ahead of it they're by about 10 months um because it's not till next year that they need to have this done but you know the goal is to update they say the list of existing vaccines so there may be changes in the protocols what ages do kids should have them what the spacing is um but they're saying no we're not adding covid or HPV to the list of course doctors like Dr craft the you know who has been on our programs many times a pediatricians will tell you you know these are federal guidelines for a reason right the covid vaccines have been shown to reduce spread yes they don't want to stop the spread but you know reduce the spread and improve outcomes that's important for teachers and kids and staff in school um and the HPV vaccine you know can help reduce the risk of cancer and you know cancer just can kill that can kill people so you know to pediatricians the calculation is pretty simple but obviously politics is and policy are more complicated so federally there's still not a mandate either there's a recommendation do you anticipate the state follow suit makes a recommendation for the covet vaccine or for any of these others that's the kind of level of discussion that the state unfortunately isn't having um with us or with the public I would like to think if they were going to do this that they would be more proactive in in you know talking to people and getting the millions of parents that do vaccinate their children regularly on board um as advocates you know I mean there are ways to run successful vaccine campaigns um but you know some have suggested Skeptics uh in The Newsroom suggest that you know perhaps this was just a trial balloon you know we've certainly seen government do that before if it was I would say you know they're going to be sliding toward the recommendation side not the Mandate side and those kinds of things usually come through pediatricians not so much the state although covet is always different so as you said the deadline for the update the every seven year update is February 2024 but the state the Department of Health is soliciting feedback right now through May 31st how can parents voice their concerns what can they offer right well I my understanding is that you can contact the the secretary the um the Department of Health and give you know share your feedback I'm sure if you reached out to them on social media they'd be interested in hearing um they did say that if they were going to change um the vaccine schedule that they would you know there would be a a public process um you know where stakeholder input would and you know hopefully parents as well as other stakeholders um not just parents who work in various institutions or advocacy groups um would be part of that conversation absolutely Lilo Stainton Healthcare writer thank you so much thank you so much support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [Music] [Music]