School Vaccine Exemptions

[Jolie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070330/hl_nm/vaccine_exemptions_dc

School vaccine exemptions put kids at risk By Anne Harding

Fri Mar 30, 1:46 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Rules that allow parents to exempt their children from immunization requirements for "philosophical" reasons are putting all kids at risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease, Arkansas researchers warn.

Since 2003, when the state began allowing these exemptions from school vaccine rules, rising numbers of children have been going without immunization, Dr. Joseph W. Thompson of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in Little Rock and colleagues found.

[lsyorke, RN]

Yes, kids get sick when they have the chicken pox. One death is a tragedy, but lets keep the numbers in perspective. Did that one child who came near death have other medical conditions, other chronic diseases....?? 480 people chose not to vaccinate, that alone speaks volumes. And we won't know the effect of the vaccinations for years. My fear is that those getting chicken pox at a older age, due to vaccination failure, are going to have a MUCH higher risk of serious complications and death.

We just don't know at this point how this is going to play out.

[Nadia Shephard]

Starting a new job in Florida. Can I tell them I refuse all vanccines?

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

Starting a new job in Florida. Can I tell them I refuse all vanccines?

A nursing job?

I can't imagine any hospital allowing a nurse to work that's not vaccinated. That's like going into a battlefield with no armor whatsoever.

[lovthatlea]

starting a new job in florida. can i tell them i refuse all vanccines?

of course you can refuse! if not you could hold them libel for anything adverse event from the vaccine because they would be forcing you to do it. it would be their responsibility to take care of you. the most common side effect is gbs and that can be expensive ventilator time. no hospital wants that. you vaccinate at your own risk. if something happens you are on your own. that is why its only recommended not mandatory.

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

Then of course they'll probably make you sign a waiver saying that when you get hep B or some other God-forsaken thing that you can't come after them.

[JenniferMPH]

of course you can refuse! if not you could hold them libel for anything adverse event from the vaccine because they would be forcing you to do it. it would be their responsibility to take care of you. the most common side effect is gbs and that can be expensive ventilator time. no hospital wants that. you vaccinate at your own risk. if something happens you are on your own. that is why its only recommended not mandatory.

i disagree on this one. going without a given vaccination makes your body an excellent carrier. though your strong immune system may ward it off, when you walk into those pt rooms, you're exposing vulnerable people to whatever you're carrying around.

[RXtech]

The "anti" vaccine era has been brought on by a mistrust in the pharmaceutical industry. If we had honesty and openness in clinical trials, true long term studies for adverse effects and an FDA that actually monitored the safety of new drug , I don't think the resistance towards vaccines would be as great.

But when a brand new vaccines with minimal risk/efficacy information are being thrown in peoples faces by a commercial and marketing by the pharmaceutical company trying to get them made mandatory, something is wrong.

This "new" way of medicine is NOT making the public more trusting, it's having the opposite effect, and potentially creating more harm by refusal of the time tested vaccines. My son was vaccinated years ago, but I would think long and hard if I had a infant today with the sheer numbers of vaccines that we are giving.

I so absolutely agree with this. For many years, instead of honestly addressing the legitimate concerns of parents, the medical establishment just dismissed them as "paranoid nonsense." There seemed to be a fear that engaging in any sort of honest dialog and acknowledging these concerns would result in people not vaccinating. And look where we are now.

I think another reason for mistrust in mandated vaccines is that some of the required immunizations have no legitimate purpose for public school attendance. The purpose of requiring immunizations before attending school is to ward off epidemics when children are in close contact with one another day after day. Children are often required to be immunized for Hep B and now there is talk of requiring the HPV vaccine. School children do not pass these diseases amongst each other in the classroom. It seems rather deceitful, and an insult to people's intelligence to try to pass these off as something needed to keep classroom epidemics at bay. There are good reasons for encouraging these immunizations early, when kids are a "captive audience," but I think many parents resent their autonomy over their children's health care being usurped.

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

but was exposed by someone else who may have parents who thought immunizations were a bad idea.>>

Actually, I bet money he was exposed by someone who had just been vaccinated. Vaccinated children often develop a mild case of chicken pox that they can spread to unvaccinated children. The worry I have with chicken pox is the HUGE influx of adults with the disease once the shot has worn off. The side effects are much worse an adult and I imagine we'll start seeing these cases in the next 5-10 years.

That is why my mom refused that particular vaccine (said yes to all others) and exposed me to chicken pox as much as possible. Never did get it. Got the vaccine 2 years ago when I was starting college, just in case.