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It wasn’t that Demetria Thomas just kept putting off a state-required booster shot for her 12-year-old son, Tony.

Thomas, a medical technician, had never heard of a booster shot for a 12-year-old before receiving notification from Guilford County Schools this past spring that Tony, now a sixth-grader at Allen Middle School, would need it. So she read a medical book and went online to research it.

The tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis, or Tdap, shot is required by the state this year for all sixth-graders beginning school Aug. 1 or later, or for students who turned 12 on or after that date, who last received a Tdap shot five or more years ago.

Some 2,140 of the system’s 5,400 sixth-graders remained at risk of suspension by Wednesday evening, according to school officials.

The state requirement, announced this past winter, meant the school system must suspend any student who hasn’t presented documentation of the Tdap shot by the 30th day of the school year. For Guilford schools, that deadline is the end of the day today.

So, having finished her research and negotiated a crimp in her work schedule, Demetria Thomas brought Tony to the Guilford County Department of Public Health on Wednesday afternoon for a free shot.

“I’d never heard of this shot,” she said. “I thought they got all their shots back when they were born. ... But I think it’s a good shot.”

Tony described it as “like a pinch.”

Jacob Abutabanja, an 11-year-old sixth-grader who also attends Allen Middle, was at the health department Wednesday with his 19-year-old brother, Mohammed. Mohammed Abutabanja said he didn’t think their parents had gotten any notice before an announcement Tuesday at school.

School officials said they sent notices home with fifth-graders this past spring and also used automated phone messages to try to notify parents.

In addition, the requirement has been publicized on the school system’s cable channel and Web site.

For suspended students to be allowed back in school, parents must present proof of vaccination or a doctor’s appointment card with confirmation of date, time and provider before Oct. 26. If the appointment is missed, the child will be suspended.

The county health department offered free vaccinations in Greensboro and High Point on Wednesday and today, and will in High Point on Friday, for a total of 375 appointment slots. As of Wednesday afternoon, slots remained at the High Point clinic for today and Friday. No Greensboro slots remained. The vaccinations are scheduled by appointment only. Children also can get the vaccination at the family’s doctor’s office.

The combination vaccine protects against three bacterial infections that can be deadly. Two of the three, diphtheria and pertussis, or whooping cough, are spread by person-to-person contact.

Staff writer J. Brian Ewing contributed to this report.

Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lex.alexander@news-record.com