katiejean Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I am not a big fan of vaccines....over the years I've begrudgingly followed the protocols my kids' pediatricians have recommended, primarily because I didnt realize I had much of a choice. Recently, I've read information opposing vaccines and basically felt relieved my children are all pretty much past the age of frequent vaccinations. However, we belong to a charter school and I just received notification that my rising 7th and 8th graders will need a newly required vaccine for whooping cough. There are other vaccines recommended as well. The letter states plainly that students will not be allowed to begin school without these vaccines. Why do I feel like I am being forced into something I'm not sure about? I can sign a waiver based in religious beliefs; I feel that's a dishonest statement as religion has nothing to do with it but I'm not sure what to think. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Does your state not have a philosophical exemption? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Each state has different laws about what kind of exemptions are allowed. You need to know the laws of your state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I'd take the time to research the issues carefully. My understanding is that there have been significant outbreaks of whooping cough in recent years in some areas. For example, a very quick google turned up the following random news article from California http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110617/ARTICLES/110619483?p=1&tc=pg: Key to the new law is that existing vaccination waivers, called Personal Belief Exemptions, do not cover the whooping cough booster vaccination. Parents must sign a revised, state-approved exemption form in the presence of a school official before the student can enroll in class or participate in extra-curricular activities. Those students who are exempt from the vaccination could be barred from school for at least 21 days if two students on their campus get diagnosed with pertussis. More than 1,000 people in California have been infected with pertussis in 2011. No deaths have been reported. In 2010, 8,627 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of whooping cough were documented, including the deaths of 10 infants, all too young to have received the first three doses of the vaccine. The number of cases was the highest in 63 years, prompting state officials to declare an epidemic. Unlike other vaccines given to children before they enter kindergarten, the protection from pertussis vaccine diminishes over time — thus the new requirement for an updated dose. You might want to check the news and rules in your area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katiejean Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 We are in California...I will keep researching and find out exactly what the laws are. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Our area is just now starting to require the whooping cough vaccine for 7th/8th/9th graders. We found out the hard way that the one they get when little may wear off when they hit their teens. DD17 spent 6 months recovering from a terrible bout of whooping cough when she was 14. I generally complain about vaccines, but this one isn't so bad, IMO. Better than getting whooping cough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Partizan Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Our area is just now starting to require the whooping cough vaccine for 7th/8th/9th graders. We found out the hard way that the one they get when little may wear off when they hit their teens. DD17 spent 6 months recovering from a terrible bout of whooping cough when she was 14. I generally complain about vaccines, but this one isn't so bad, IMO. Better than getting whooping cough! :iagree: I'm not going to argue against your beliefs on vaccines. But my aunt, who is a nurse, always says, "A lot of people are against vaccines, but if you've ever seen a child with whooping cough, it'll make you rethink your beliefs about vaccinnes." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 :iagree: I'm not going to argue against your beliefs on vaccines. But my aunt, who is a nurse, always says, "A lot of people are against vaccines, but if you've ever seen a child with whooping cough, it'll make you rethink your beliefs about vaccinnes." There are some heartbreaking videos on YouTube of babies with whooping cough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 What I have found for myself is to research and make as informed a decision as possible. I have done an altered schedule for my son...but just this week did the MMR for him because I know that there is an outbreak of measles and that is worse than the injection of the vaccine in my opinion at this time...mind you they also wanted me to do Hep A which I declined. So just research and determine what is best for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 When we were considering our options in vaccinations, we faced the same philosophical problem; our only opt-out option (as pertains to institutional schooling) is for religious purposes which do not apply to us. We also feel uncomfortable making such a claim, though I know plenty of people who have exercised that. That said, I think the subject needs to be considered with lifestyle in mind. For our lifestyle, it made sense to vaccinate. With outbreaks of whooping cough, it would make sense (to me) to vaccinate or re-vaccinate a teen, barring any absolute contraindications. Just my two cents on one of those parenting decisions that takes a lot of reflection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I would lie rather than submit my child to something I felt was not in their best interest- if it was important to me. And if I didn't feel like fighting for it at the time. I have my own religion- the religion of my own beliefs. It's weird- my son has been at school for 6 months now and although I was required by law to provide vaccination records- and I was asked twice- I simply "forgot" and sent him to school and nothing has been made of it at all (he is actually vaccinated- I just don't want to chase the records). Then I realised I knew the school nurse so I asked her about it and she is not pro vaccination herself so never chases parents about it even though it is part of her job. People find their own way with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 You've read some negative information about vaccines but have you thoroughly examined the claims made in that information. There's some thought provoking anti-vax stuff but there's also a lot of misleading and just plain wrong infomation. Did the information pertain to whooping cough vaccines or something else? And if your kids have had most of their shots and no one has had a bad reaction...:confused: Seems there's not a lot to worry about on that front maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 But my aunt, who is a nurse, always says, "A lot of people are against vaccines, but if you've ever seen a child with whooping cough, it'll make you rethink your beliefs about vaccinnes." My son, who was fully vaccinated for whooping cough, got it anyway (at age 7). It is HORRIBLE! I was literally afraid he was going to die because he could not breathe. Vaccines are not fool-proof, obviously, as my son got whooping cough despite being vaccinated, but people who think these diseases are no big deal have generally not seen them. My great-grandparents had 13 children; nine of them died from what are today preventable childhood diseases; three died in one week. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvasMom Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Just thought I'd throw this out there but we also avoid vaccines but the pertussis one is an exception at this point. There is some correlation with SIDS events when it's given to tiny babies so I still wouldn't give it to a child that age but I do wish we had gotten it earlier for ds. There is a window between age 7 and 11 where you can't give it. There's a version for age 7 and under and a version for age 11 and up but nothing in between. Pertussis is a real threat right now and the one vaccine I want him to have (dd had them before we questioned vax) and he can't get it for another year. That makes me a little nervous. Anyway, it's your child and you absolutely should be able to choose but I would think this particular vaccine through really really well but I'm paranoid about pertussis so take that for what it's worth. DS has had croup a couple of times and, even as an RN, it freaks me out. Pertussis would have me in the looney bin with worry. lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvasMom Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I would lie rather than submit my child to something I felt was not in their best interest- if it was important to me. And if I didn't feel like fighting for it at the time. I have my own religion- the religion of my own beliefs. . *That* is what is constitutionally protected, not just organized religious beliefs. We've used the religious exemption and felt fine about it. My religious beliefs are that I am responsible for protecting my children because they've been entrusted to me by God. Part of that duty is keeping them from someone I believe will harm them. Therefore...religious belief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 We've had outbreaks in the schools here as well. Pertusis is nasty... I'd say of all the vaccines - this one and tetanus are probably ones not to skip. But that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emubird Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 There are risks with all vaccines. There are also risks when getting the diseases. The disease risks tend to be a lot higher. The anti-vaccine sites lean toward fear mongering. They also don't really have the science on their side, for the most part. They make me pretty angry because they tend to make the doctors we've dealt with have knee jerk reactions in the OTHER direction. They just cite those fear mongering sites as reasons why one SHOULD vaccinate. I think we vaccinated because I'm in the generation that grew up hearing horror stories from our parents and grandparents who did not have the advantages of vaccines. Back in their day, it was just assumed that one would want vaccines if they were available. It was trading a small risk for a huge one. There were no questions asked. These days, people who don't vaccinate are getting the benefit of herd immunity (everyone else vaccinates), but many assume it is all their own doing because they eat organic foods or lots of vegetables or some such thing. Back in my grandparents day, everyone pretty much ate organic foods and they still had a lot of deaths from these diseases. My understanding is that whooping cough is very risky for babies. That's why they started vaccinating babies, but left the rest of the population to lose their immunity. Maybe that seemed like the safer bet from a public health standpoint, weighing the risks of immunizing everyone vs the small number of vaccinated babies who would still get the disease. But if you have a baby in the house, vaccinating the rest of the family might be more attractive to protect the baby. (I think they've known for a long time that adults lose the immunity they got earlier on, but were more focused on keeping babies from getting it.) Speaking from personal experience, whooping cough in a teen or adult is really no fun, even if complications are less likely. It knocked my kids out of commission for about a semester. (That's also about how long it kept my dad out of school when their entire family had it back in pre-vaccine times.) Given what we went through, I might be inclined to vaccinate a teen, even though I generally don't vaccinate automatically just because someone tells us to. By the way, hearkening back to the tetanus vaccine thread -- I assume populations do not get herd immunity from tetanus as it's not spread (generally) from human to human. So I wouldn't skip the tetanus shot. Other people aren't getting it because THEY were vaccinated, but that doesn't protect the unvaccinated as happens with measles and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I've stopped vaccinating my kids....but whooping cough is the one thing that I may vaccinate our new baby for. That's the only one that kind of scares me. When DD was taking speech at the public school, they told me she needed shots. Like another poster, I simply "forgot" to bring the sheet back to the school and no one ever said anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 We've had outbreaks in the schools here as well. Pertusis is nasty...I'd say of all the vaccines - this one and tetanus are probably ones not to skip. But that's just me. :iagree: Dd hasn't had anything for years and the new pedi and I went round and round about the lot of them. The only ones I agreed to were the two that I felt were essential - pertussis and tetanus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Our area is just now starting to require the whooping cough vaccine for 7th/8th/9th graders. We found out the hard way that the one they get when little may wear off when they hit their teens. DD17 spent 6 months recovering from a terrible bout of whooping cough when she was 14. I generally complain about vaccines, but this one isn't so bad, IMO. Better than getting whooping cough! :iagree:I would definitely get the vaccine. Whooping cough is nasty:( My dh and I had the vaccines recently as adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Pertussis (Whooping Cough) is highly contagious and sweeping the State. You do not want to mess around with a failure to vaccinate against this disease. To do so would border on child endangerment. Do the right thing! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I think some vaccines make sense and whooping cough is one of them. I do not agree, however, with starting the Hep B vaccine series at birth for kids who are not born into high risk families, plenty of time for that later when the child is old enough to be at risk for a blood borne pathogen based on their own behaviors. I don't agree with some of the other required vaccines either, but for the most part I do have my kids vaccinated although sometimes a bit later than recommended. I would go ahead and get the whooping cough vaccine, were I you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katiejean Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Thank You for all the encouragement. I have to admit I am around some people who strongly believe in conspiracies and very weird things regarding vaccines. I would NEVER endanger my children by not using proper judgement for their well-being. We are a holistic and organic family and I have their best interest at heart. We will definitely be doing our research. I just feel thus is OUR prerogative and NOT the governements. I don't want the government educating my children nor forcing me to do anything I'm not completely comfortable with. I also do not want to fall prey to scare tactics in order to raise funds. Just my $.2 but I promise not to endanger my children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in NC Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I faced the same choice earlier this month. My youngest just got her Tdap. That includes diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. My girls always run around without shoes on so I see the need for the tetanus. In fact, Friday my youngest stepped on a bee. Since it is a puncture wound, the doctor asked about her tetanus status. I am glad she is protected. I foresee a lot more discussion on this topic for the rest of the year. There have been measle outbreaks in Europe and in Canada. In the US, 118 cases were reported by May of this year. Last year, there was a total of 50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Thank You for all the encouragement. I have to admit I am around some people who strongly believe in conspiracies and very weird things regarding vaccines. I would NEVER endanger my children by not using proper judgement for their well-being. We are a holistic and organic family and I have their best interest at heart. We will definitely be doing our research. I just feel thus is OUR prerogative and NOT the governements. I don't want the government educating my children nor forcing me to do anything I'm not completely comfortable with. I also do not want to fall prey to scare tactics in order to raise funds. Just my $.2 but I promise not to endanger my children. I don't know the laws in CA, but can't you just homeschool without the charter school? Then you can do whatever you want (though I would still vaccinate against pertussis, fwiw.) Once you sign them up for a government institution (the charter,) they get to start calling some of the shots. That's the trade-off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 My son, who was fully vaccinated for whooping cough, got it anyway (at age 7). It is HORRIBLE! I was literally afraid he was going to die because he could not breathe. Vaccines are not fool-proof, obviously, as my son got whooping cough despite being vaccinated, but people who think these diseases are no big deal have generally not seen them. My great-grandparents had 13 children; nine of them died from what are today preventable childhood diseases; three died in one week. Tara Whooping cough spread through one of the school districts I was in as a kid. I got it and so did many others. Every single one of us were vaccinated :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katiejean Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) Thank you all so very much. I appreciate all the time taken to help me with this. I knew I could count on a great group of people who do their research and make good choices. Ibwas vaccinated as a kid and still contracted measles in Mexico...of course it could have been worse if I hadnt been vaccinated. I also was hospitalized as a child for croup-and lung infections scare the beejeebers out of me. I'm not going to take any chances. I agree there is a lot of misleading information out there-and I don't want to fall into either trap. My mom has fed me info regarding vaccines causing autism etc but I know my kids are probably past that point being the ages they are. I really do thank you all for the informative and in depth thoughts on this subject. Love and health to all! Edited June 19, 2011 by katiejean I can spell but I'm on my iPhone so posted before editing lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katiejean Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 I don't know the laws in CA, but can't you just homeschool without the charter school? Then you can do whatever you want (though I would still vaccinate against pertussis, fwiw.) Once you sign them up for a government institution (the charter,) they get to start calling some of the shots. That's the trade-off. Yes, we can homeschool here without the charter. I'm in it for a few reasons: 1. I'm spoiled rotten by the funding we get to buy whatever we want that's not Christian, art supplies, microscopes etc. 2. Although I have a teaching degree, I do foresee trouble on the homeschool front here in Ca and I don't want my children to end up facing issues at the university level by not having proper records/transcripts. 3. Our teacher is a long time friend that helps us keep "homeschool minded" and doesn't force ps ideas on us at all. It's very much a parent driven school so we are thankful for it for now and gladly deal with the little quirks. It may not always be this way but for now it's nice. 4. I like knowing I have someone to be accountable to besides dh lol it helps me make certain deadlines and keep good records. This fall will be our 6th year doing this so I'm sure I'd do fine without them but we stay on for the financial aspect of it all. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 KatieJean, I'm in Ca also, here we have not only a religious exemption, but also a philosophical exemption, so you could sign the waiver, even if it has nothing to do with your religion. I am in a charter, and I Just signed the new waiver- we will actually be doing these for my teens, but my timetable is a bit off, so it's easier to just sign the waiver. We delayed when they were young, and as teens we do the ones we are comfortable with. Just ask your school for the waiver, they have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Each state has different laws about what kind of exemptions are allowed. You need to know the laws of your state. :iagree: Our state, OK, offers several different objections. I believe one is personal objection or something similar. It's been years since I've seen the form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I would lie rather than submit my child to something I felt was not in their best interest- if it was important to me. And if I didn't feel like fighting for it at the time. I have my own religion- the religion of my own beliefs. People find their own way with it. i am not one that believes in bending the rules. Ever. But I believe this statement whole heartedly! I would object for religious reasons even if it was only the religion of my own beliefs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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