Prospect of jail spurs inoculations

The threat of jail time injected a little motivation into scores of parents who lined up around the courthouse in Upper Marlboro to get their children vaccinated then and there or prove they’ve already had the shots.

It was one of the strongest efforts yet by a U.S. school system to ensure that youngsters are immunized, upsetting some parents who grumbled that Prince George’s County officials went too far and irking opponents of mass vaccinations, who demonstrated outside.

Two months into the school year, officials in the suburban Washington county realized that more than 2,000 students still didn’t have the vaccinations required to attend class.

So Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols ordered parents in a letter to appear at the courthouse or risk as many as 10 days in jail.