Do you vaccinate?

[pensmama87]

I do think it’s irresponsible parenting for kids to not be vaccinated.
While I don’t think it’s the up to the government to make this decision…I do think that the personal, religious and philosophical waivers should be done away with and that no public school should admit a child who is not vaccinated.
Homeschooling and private schools and different, of course. .

I have thought about this for a while and have come to the conclusion that I mostly agree with what you’ve said here, but have one additional question: what about a child who literally cannot be vaccinated, due to severe allergy to vaccine components? Lots of children have mild reactions such that it’s still considered better to give them the vaccine and deal with the reaction, but there are a few children who have life-threatening reactions.

In my mind, that child should still be permitted to attend public schools because they cannot be vaccinated for a medical reason, which is different than the ones you stated. Just asking for clarification.

Just a story here: my grandma grew up Christian Scientist and was never vaccinated as a child (they actually never went to the doctor at all, except for one time when her brother broke his leg and had it set at the ER, my great-grandma saying that “CS” also needed to stand for “common sense.”) Her first exposure to a needle was getting her blood drawn for her marriage license (do any states still require that?) and she apparently fainted. She’s very pro-vaccine now, having seen lots of disease when she was young, and suffering through measles herself and not ever having any medical treatment for it at all. But I’m always amazed by her story - as soon as people knew you could vaccinate for polio they all wanted it, because they knew what could happen. We seem far enough removed from the diseases now that we think they can’t have been that bad and that “nobody died” from them, which isn’t true at all.

Sometimes I also think that it seems that there are a lot more people living today due to other medical innovations that wouldn’t have even a few generations past, who have compromised immune systems and other complications like asthma that makes it really inadvisable to expose them to these diseases when they make a comeback. This may sound harsh, but when I think about it, it seems to me that OK, sure, these people may not have died from measles or pertussis, because they would likely have already been dead from something else.

 

[Kelfa28]

I have thought about this for a while and have come to the conclusion that I mostly agree with what you’ve said here, but have one additional question: what about a child who literally cannot be vaccinated, due to severe allergy to vaccine components? Lots of children have mild reactions such that it’s still considered better to give them the vaccine and deal with the reaction, but there are a few children who have life-threatening reactions.

In my mind, that child should still be permitted to attend public schools because they cannot be vaccinated for a medical reason, which is different than the ones you stated. Just asking for clarification.

I mentioned “herd-menatlity” in my post and why it’s needed to protect both babies, whose immune systems are not developed enough for vaccines just yet, and also for children with compromised immunity. Meaning, children who have cancer or another illness that precludes them from receiving whatever vaccines they are due for…allergies included.

I should have clarified and had been more specific. Absolutely, there are children, who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. It would be detrimental for them to be vaccinated.

The truth is, these populations of children who attend public school and cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are so small.

In Mississippi, they do not allow any children to get a waiver for vaccinations for anything other then a legit medical reason. As a result, over 99.7% of all kids entering public school kindergarden were vaccinated.
Those kids that were the true percentage of the population that cannot be vaccinated due to medical reason.

washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/30/mississippi-yes-mississippi-has-the-nations-best-child-vaccination-rate-heres-why/

That is where herd-mentality will actually work. Those kids who can’t get the vaccinations are better protected and the baby siblings of kids who are vaccinated are also protected.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I mentioned “herd-menatlity” in my post and why it’s needed to protect both babies, whose immune systems are not developed enough for vaccines just yet, and also for children with compromised immunity. Meaning, children who have cancer or another illness that precludes them from receiving whatever vaccines they are due for…allergies included.

I should have clarified and had been more specific. Absolutely, there are children, who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. It would be detrimental for them to be vaccinated.

The truth is, these populations of children who attend public school and cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are so small.

In Mississippi, they do not allow any children to get a waiver for vaccinations for anything other then a legit medical reason. As a result, over 99.7% of all kids entering public school kindergarden were vaccinated.
Those kids that were the true percentage of the population that cannot be vaccinated due to medical reason.

That is where herd-mentality will actually work. Those kids who can’t get the vaccinations are better protected and the baby siblings of kids who are vaccinated are also protected.

Though the statistics would be close to what you cited, actual reality is far less clean and neat. The factor of illegal immigrants alone make many stats inaccurate.

But I think the point stands. Medical inability for an immunization is rare. And no one I have ever heard of is advocating not having an exception for someone who would be damaged by receiving the immunization. So it really is not a factor at all.

Honestly, this is an issue that I can see both sides on. I really can.