TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Students in certain grades at Kansas public and private schools will be required to have two new vaccinations this year.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Thursday that students entering kindergarten and first grade will need two doses of a hepatitis A vaccine.

Students entering seventh grade will need one dose of the meningococcal ACWY vaccine. And students starting their junior year will need the meningococcal ACWY vaccine if they have not been vaccinated before their 16th birthday.

The new requirements take effect Aug. 2.

Kansas allows exemptions from vaccines only for medical and religious reasons.

Health department Secretary Lee Norman said the agency collected public input before proposing the new requirements. He said meningitis and hepatitis A are both severe diseases that are preventable with vaccines.

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