Anti-vax parents sue to keep kids in school

Updated:   Published

Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..

As New York’s Rockland County grapples with a large and lengthy outbreak of measles, a group of anti-vaccine parents sued officials for temporarily barring their unvaccinated children from school—and the county is not having it.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/03/anti-vax-parents-sue-to-keep-unvaccinated-kids-in-school-during-outbreak/

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Specializes in ER.

I don't think they'll legally prevail

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if peanuts and nuts aren't allowed in school then unvaccinated children shouldn't be either(unless of course immunocompromised)

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

Oy with the poodles already!

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Specializes in ER.
42 minutes ago, zombieghoast said:

if peanuts and nuts aren't allowed in school then unvaccinated children shouldn't be either(unless of course immunocompromised)

It seems that immunocompromised kids might be at risk in school. Wouldn't that be a risky place to be? Vaccines don't protect against everything...

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7 minutes ago, Emergent said:

It seems that immunocompromised kids might be at risk in school. Wouldn't that be a risky place to be? Vaccines don't protect against everything...

We have a couple immunocompromised kids at our school. We follow special protocols (switch seats if a student is particularly sneezy or coughy, call mom if anyone in the class has been diagnosed with flu/strep, wipe down desk & common areas more often than usual). School definitely can be a "dangerous" place for these kids, but it's important to them and their families that they have as normal of a childhood as possible. Also our immunocompromised kids are vaccinated to the fullest extent possible given their conditions.

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Where are these kids when they're not in school? It seems like they'd still be out in the community and around other kids.

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Specializes in NCSN.
On 3/14/2019 at 10:13 AM, BiscuitRN said:

We have a couple immunocompromised kids at our school. We follow special protocols (switch seats if a student is particularly sneezy or coughy, call mom if anyone in the class has been diagnosed with flu/strep, wipe down desk & common areas more often than usual). School definitely can be a "dangerous" place for these kids, but it's important to them and their families that they have as normal of a childhood as possible. Also our immunocompromised kids are vaccinated to the fullest extent possible given their conditions.

We have a similar protocol for our immunocompromised kids. And if we ever had a case of a preventable disease outbreak (mumps, measles etc) we would treat the non immunized students the same way (we only have 2 though in our school).

Unpopular opinion here. Even though I do agree with schools that have lower than a 95% immunization rate keeping students without immunizations home to keep up herd immunity, the time frame of 21 to 42 seems unreasonable to me. I know everyone will say that they should get their kids immunized if they want to attend, but if there is a REAL religious objection, then maybe just like our immunocompromised children/medically non immunized children, it should be the parents choice in a school community with no cases. Incubation for measles is 14 days and just because someone is not immunized doesn't mean they are a carrier. And what happens when that time frame does run out and there are still active cases in the region? And even those who ARE immunized can be carriers (give the rate is MUCH lower, but I'm just bringing that up for a devil advocate's point).

I think this is just a lot more gray than black and white.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I think vaccinations should be a legal requirement at this point. Children should not have to potentially be at risk just because their parents think they can outsmart science.

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Our exemption form in Texas states the following:

"I further understand my child may be excluded from school attendance in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the Commissioner of Public Health."

Notarized signature - parent has agreed to terms set forth!!

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Specializes in School Nurse.
On 3/18/2019 at 9:36 AM, EnoughWithTheIce said:

Our exemption form in Texas states the following:

"I further understand my child may be excluded from school attendance in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the Commissioner of Public Health."

Notarized signature - parent has agreed to terms set forth!!

As I quickly look at the affidavit . . . True that!

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