goldenstate31

wow! thats interesting could you explain?
I remember a few years back all the controversy surrounding the combined MMR vaccine. I decided not to take a chance with my daughter so I paid privately here in the UK for the single MMR, like a lot of parents at the time! 3 trips later and £600.00 lighter from queen elizabeth hospital in london (then there wasnt many places offering the single jab). I paid for the singles vaccine and will do again when anything like this raises suspicion again.
So are you saying people are not getting their children vaccinated and can put them through school, because of personal beliefs?

Englishtart

I think Penguin was talking about immigration, you need a religious waiver if you want to opt out of the required shots for that. As for school requirements, it's supposed to be easier to sign a waiver for opting out of the schools req's. Some parents chose not to have their kids vaccinated against some things, or will pick and chose depending on how they feel regarding necessity. Not all schools will advertise that you can opt out and it isn't necessarily a good idea to do it, but it's somewhat of a choice.

penguinsix

That basically sums it up. Nearly every state has a religious exemption, but California has a "personal belief" exemption which is pretty loose. US immigration is religious views and it is not a given that the waiver will be granted.

It's a long and fierce debate that sort of defies normal political lines. You can read more here in this article which did a good job summing up what has been going on lately.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?cat=36

Mummy in the foothills

In CA you can opt out of vaccines, it's a personal choice and a hot topic on both sides. If you opt out of any vaccines they don't ask why or try to persuade you (from my experience and others I've talked too) they just let you sign off and go on your merry way. They don't stop you enrolling your kids in school and daycare because of this. I never thought of it as a strange thing, maybe I've been in CA too long!.

goldenstate31

yep, i havent heard this before, the plot is just getting thicker
how does that affect you say when your applying for a green card etc then?
as i thought USCIS needed to see proof of your vaccines etc?
We are moving to Cali, so are you saying certain vaccines because we live in California are not needed?

AmerLisa

They are all needed. But when you sign your child up to school and you have personal reasons why they have not been vaccinated, then you can opt out. I think you are confusing two things. If immigration requires you to be vaccinated before moving over, opting out at a school district is a mute point.

Englishtart

Yeah, there is a world of difference between immigration vaccine requirements and school registration ones

Prof_Yaffel

Definately...we are going through the immunisation process for our green cards at the moment and there is no opting out really. Have to be jabbed for all the usual childhood stuff + hep A & B. Luckily they are free with our health insurance So far we've had to have MMR, tetanus , dyptheria, polio, hooping cough. Have to go again for Hep A and B. The kids needed fewer because they has their UK vaccination records.

Oh , and a blood test for Syphilis !

Mummy in the foothills

Definitely, my trio were born her so we never went through the immigration side of vaccines.
When did they start requiring vaccines for immigration? I came here in the 80's and had a physical, but never showed proof of vaccines or needed any.

AmerLisa

We moved over here in 2004 and my husband (2003 we did the visa) was required to have a MMR vaccination. I don't know how long before that, that it was a requirement.

lisa67

This didn't apply to homeschooling in Michigan when I homeschooled for about 6 months, 5 years ago. Things may have changed up there by now, but at the time I didn't need to inform anyone, or get my curriculum approved...scary huh??

Mummy in the foothills

It is scary isn't it. I've never heard of needing permission here, I have a few homeschool friends with kids split between public school and homeschool. You can join a local homeschool here and they cover all the costs of curriculum and weekly tutoring.
I doubt I'd try it, Dd and I butt heads as it is. Plus some of the homeschool teens I know are the complete opposite of the spelling bee champ homeschooler you hear about. They have graduated and can't pass the simple math test to get into the local junior college to get a training to be anything.

penguinsix

The law for immigrants was passed in 1996. The Congress added a section to medical inadmissability:

This new subsection requires any person who seeks an immigrant visa to show proof of having received vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases as recommended by the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) which is basically part of the Center for Disease Control(CDC)

The list changes every so often. The most uptodate thing I've found is here:

http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeeh...ation-faq.html

Whether or not you get them, for purposes of school admissions, is something that you "opt out" of doing depending on your religious or moral views, and if you are in California (or 20 other states) you can request a 'philosophical' exemption. These laws and waivers are set by the states and vary across the country. By contrast, in some states you can be hauled in front of a magistrate and fined if you don't get your kids the proper jabs and don't have a legitimate waiver reason. It really varies.

However, for the purposes of entry into the US, a matter which is controlled by the federal government, they don't buy into the 'philosophical' argument as a valid reason for a waiver. In fact, even if you claim religious grounds they might say "yea right, have fun staying in the UK". They are a bit more strict on this.

In the end, you can jump through hoops and do what you can to avoid them for the purposes of school, but the fact that the Feds require it for immigration makes the whole exercise a bit of a moot point.

Medically speaking, especially in California, living without the proper vaccinations is basically rolling the dice. Levels of vaccination in some counties are below 'herd immunity' rates meaning a small infection in one school can rapidly spread across a community or across the state. For example the whooping cough outbreak that is going around now, and many are predicting a major measles epidemic to start in California the next time it makes an appearance in the US (indigenous measles were declared eliminated in North America in 2002, but imported outbreaks often in immigrant communities continue to cause problems).