HUNTINGTON -- Cabell Midland and Huntington high schools, in conjunction with Valley Health, will host vaccination clinics next week to help students get current with the state's new requirements.

Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, all West Virginia students entering seventh grade will be required to have had one dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) and one dose of the meningococcal vaccines before the start of the school year. Students entering 12th grade also must have had at least one dose of the Tdap vaccine and a booster dose of the meningococcal vaccine (unless received after their 16th birthday).

The clinics will take place at the schools from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, which is an Instructional Support and Enhancement day for teachers. Students are not required to attend.

The new mandate was handed down last year by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services' Bureau for Public Health, said Elizabeth Ayers, the public information officer for the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.

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Cabell Midland and Huntington high schools, in conjunction with Valley Health, will host vaccination clinics next week to help students get current with the state's new requirements.