Watkins Health Center has had an influx of Kansas University community members coming in for measles vaccinations this week.

The rush — primarily employees — follows a friendly reminder the university sent out urging anyone who has not been vaccinated to come in and do so, said Douglas Dechairo, Watkins Health Services director and chief of staff.

With measles outbreaks in other states, KU wants to be proactive in preventing the spread of the disease should it show up here, Dechairo said.

“All it takes is one case,” he said, adding that close living and working quarters of a university setting increase the risk of such diseases spreading.

Per Kansas Board of Regents policy, KU and other state schools require students to be vaccinated for Measles, Mumps and Rubella (a vaccination referred to as MMR).

At KU, Dechairo said, “the lion’s share” of students are.

About 650 names are on the list of students who have failed to show proof of vaccination, resulting in holds on their enrollment, Dechairo said. He said Watkins has a compliance coordinator tasked with trying to get those students to follow up, but he also noted that some of them may not actually be on campus this semester because they would have been blocked from enrolling.

Another 350 students have signed waivers exempting them from being vaccinated, Dechairo said. There are several approved grounds for exemption including medical conditions, pregnancy or religious reasons.

KU recommends but does not require faculty and staff to be vaccinated against measles.

People who are unsure if they are vaccinated for measles — or students who cannot produce records proving it — can also get a blood test, or titer, to detect whether they have the antibodies, Dechairo said.

If someone at KU does get measles, KU would begin the process to identify everyone that person had come in contact with, Dechairo said. Anyone on the list who hadn’t previously been vaccinated would be required to stay away from campus — or in the case of a student with no off-campus home to go to, quarantined — at least 21 days.

“If you are not currently immunized against measles, we strongly recommend that you get immunized,” Dechairo wrote in a recent message to employees co-signed by Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sara Rosen.

Vaccination requirements such as those at KU are not in place at all colleges nationwide.

Twenty-two states do not require college students to be vaccinated for measles, and students at five colleges — three in California — now have been diagnosed with the disease, Inside Higher Ed reported this week.

The publication reported that the outbreak has already spurred some institutions to change rules or practices.

In addition to MMR, KU also requires all students living in residence halls and scholarship halls to be vaccinated against meningitis. International students must take a tuberculosis test and undergo treatment if the disease is detected; if they don’t, they may be removed from the classes in which they have enrolled.