Does your daycare require vaccinations?

[Anonymous]

We went to tour a daycare facility in DC and when I asked if they require vaccines, the director said "no, but you have to fill out a form." Is this the status quo? It's possible that she meant to say that they do require vaccines and proper paperwork for any medical exemptions, and I will follow up.

[Anonymous]

No, it is encouraged but not required. We didn’t have to fill out anything. Most parents chose to vaccinate though to avoid/reduce quarantines.

[Anonymous]

Yes they require all the regular vaccines. They allow medical exemptions but not religious exemptions. They don't require the Covid vaccine for kids (haven't said anything either way).

This is in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Same. They require vaccines unless there's a medical exception. There's no rules for covid vaccines. But if those babies do the better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it is encouraged but not required. We didn’t have to fill out anything. Most parents chose to vaccinate though to avoid/reduce quarantines.

Op here - I specifically mean regular childhood vaccines - like TDAP, MMR, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to tour a daycare facility in DC and when I asked if they require vaccines, the director said "no, but you have to fill out a form." Is this the status quo? It's possible that she meant to say that they do require vaccines and proper paperwork for any medical exemptions, and I will follow up.

It is required in ALL centers, schools and family childcare homes in Washington, DC to be FULLY VACCINATED - this is a combined OSSE and Dept of Health regulation. (I direct a DC center). Not only do they need their vaccinations, all parents must keep up with their child's vaccinations, getting them the correct # of times and at the correct intervals.

BUT... if someone claims a religious exemption to all vaccinations, then we are require to enroll that child because we cannot discriminate based on religion. I will say that in my years (since 2007) of directing in DC and my years of directing in another state before that for about 10 years, I've never had a parent claim religious exemption. So it's not common. I wouldn't accept it for just one vaccine (like when parents were crazy about the MMR due to that irresponsible pediatrician who spread rumors) - if a parent is willing to get some vaccines, they need to get all vaccines.

BUT this doesn't include the covid vaccination - that isn't yet required by DOH in DC - I am sure it's coming but it's not there yet as a requirement.

So when that director said you need to fill out a form, she/he was assuming you were going to want a religious exemption, not that you were checking on the policy of vaccinations in DC. So ask it a different way "what is the policy on childhood vaccinations at your school" might get the director to tell you the policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to tour a daycare facility in DC and when I asked if they require vaccines, the director said "no, but you have to fill out a form." Is this the status quo? It's possible that she meant to say that they do require vaccines and proper paperwork for any medical exemptions, and I will follow up.

It is required in ALL centers, schools and family childcare homes in Washington, DC to be FULLY VACCINATED - this is a combined OSSE and Dept of Health regulation. (I direct a DC center). Not only do they need their vaccinations, all parents must keep up with their child's vaccinations, getting them the correct # of times and at the correct intervals.

BUT... if someone claims a religious exemption to all vaccinations, then we are require to enroll that child because we cannot discriminate based on religion. I will say that in my years (since 2007) of directing in DC and my years of directing in another state before that for about 10 years, I've never had a parent claim religious exemption. So it's not common. I wouldn't accept it for just one vaccine (like when parents were crazy about the MMR due to that irresponsible pediatrician who spread rumors) - if a parent is willing to get some vaccines, they need to get all vaccines.

BUT this doesn't include the covid vaccination - that isn't yet required by DOH in DC - I am sure it's coming but it's not there yet as a requirement.

So when that director said you need to fill out a form, she/he was assuming you were going to want a religious exemption, not that you were checking on the policy of vaccinations in DC. So ask it a different way "what is the policy on childhood vaccinations at your school" might get the director to tell you the policy.

OP here. Thank you so much for responding. A couple of follow ups - 1) Does it matter what the policy is, if licensing requires full vaccination (for regular childhood vaccines)? and 2) Is it appropriate to ask (or can I find online) what their non-medical exemption rate is?

[Anonymous]

Vaccinate them.

Any place can say no to religious nuts. They will say the spot is taken. The spot was never yours since you didn't bring the completed forms and paid the tiutions

[Anonymous]

OP are you planning to get your kids vac on schedule and hoping all the other kids are too? If so, that Director's response would botjer me. Seems very lax and like there may be a lot of ppl who like that place bc they can easily claim some BS exemption. We asked about vax policy at ours and the description was pretty detailed and clear that they obviously expect everyone to be vax, subject to some exemptions in the law with documentation etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is encouraged but not required. We didn’t have to fill out anything. Most parents chose to vaccinate though to avoid/reduce quarantines.

Op here - I specifically mean regular childhood vaccines - like TDAP, MMR, etc.

Oh, those are definitely required. I thought the question was about the Covid vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP are you planning to get your kids vac on schedule and hoping all the other kids are too? If so, that Director's response would botjer me. Seems very lax and like there may be a lot of ppl who like that place bc they can easily claim some BS exemption. We asked about vax policy at ours and the description was pretty detailed and clear that they obviously expect everyone to be vax, subject to some exemptions in the law with documentation etc.

Op here. Yes! For example, when we selected a pediatrician, we picked one that was very clear that they did not accept children on alternative vaccine schedules. I'm not worried about covid vaccines, I'm worried about measles, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP are you planning to get your kids vac on schedule and hoping all the other kids are too? If so, that Director's response would botjer me. Seems very lax and like there may be a lot of ppl who like that place bc they can easily claim some BS exemption. We asked about vax policy at ours and the description was pretty detailed and clear that they obviously expect everyone to be vax, subject to some exemptions in the law with documentation etc.

Op here. Yes! For example, when we selected a pediatrician, we picked one that was very clear that they did not accept children on alternative vaccine schedules. I'm not worried about covid vaccines, I'm worried about measles, etc.

Then keep your kids home. Reality is it's very rare for that to spread and the bigger issue is if your kids are vaccinated, not theirs.

We did a slower schedule. I just filled out the religious waiver and updated the shot records when we did the shots. No big deal. My kid had bad reactions if we did them all at once. Sometimes there are good reasons to slow things down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to tour a daycare facility in DC and when I asked if they require vaccines, the director said "no, but you have to fill out a form." Is this the status quo? It's possible that she meant to say that they do require vaccines and proper paperwork for any medical exemptions, and I will follow up.

It is required in ALL centers, schools and family childcare homes in Washington, DC to be FULLY VACCINATED - this is a combined OSSE and Dept of Health regulation. (I direct a DC center). Not only do they need their vaccinations, all parents must keep up with their child's vaccinations, getting them the correct # of times and at the correct intervals.

BUT... if someone claims a religious exemption to all vaccinations, then we are require to enroll that child because we cannot discriminate based on religion. I will say that in my years (since 2007) of directing in DC and my years of directing in another state before that for about 10 years, I've never had a parent claim religious exemption. So it's not common. I wouldn't accept it for just one vaccine (like when parents were crazy about the MMR due to that irresponsible pediatrician who spread rumors) - if a parent is willing to get some vaccines, they need to get all vaccines.

BUT this doesn't include the covid vaccination - that isn't yet required by DOH in DC - I am sure it's coming but it's not there yet as a requirement.

So when that director said you need to fill out a form, she/he was assuming you were going to want a religious exemption, not that you were checking on the policy of vaccinations in DC. So ask it a different way "what is the policy on childhood vaccinations at your school" might get the director to tell you the policy.

OP here. Thank you so much for responding. A couple of follow ups - 1) Does it matter what the policy is, if licensing requires full vaccination (for regular childhood vaccines)? and 2) Is it appropriate to ask (or can I find online) what their non-medical exemption rate is?

1. A center's policy IS to follow OSSE, our licensing agency. We must at the bare minimum follow them. I'm sure that's the policy at MD and VA centers.

2. You can ask if they have any children on a religious exemption, sure.

3. There are some babies who don't tolerate getting multiple shots at the same time, which is our the DOH sets it up. So for those parents, they do a modified schedule but they are then taking their children nearly monthly to get a shot vs getting 3 or 4 at the same visit and not returning for another 3 to 6 months (in the early years, babies get different vaccinations at birth, 8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months and 15 months). So we were always able to maintain compliance (to continue with your license in DC you must remain at 95-98% compliance with vaccinations) because those babies would be done by 9 months of age, it just took them 3 months to get their 6 month old shots, and so forth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP are you planning to get your kids vac on schedule and hoping all the other kids are too? If so, that Director's response would botjer me. Seems very lax and like there may be a lot of ppl who like that place bc they can easily claim some BS exemption. We asked about vax policy at ours and the description was pretty detailed and clear that they obviously expect everyone to be vax, subject to some exemptions in the law with documentation etc.

Op here. Yes! For example, when we selected a pediatrician, we picked one that was very clear that they did not accept children on alternative vaccine schedules. I'm not worried about covid vaccines, I'm worried about measles, etc.

Then keep your kids home. Reality is it's very rare for that to spread and the bigger issue is if your kids are vaccinated, not theirs.

We did a slower schedule. I just filled out the religious waiver and updated the shot records when we did the shots. No big deal. My kid had bad reactions if we did them all at once. Sometimes there are good reasons to slow things down.

You are impressively wrong. DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP are you planning to get your kids vac on schedule and hoping all the other kids are too? If so, that Director's response would botjer me. Seems very lax and like there may be a lot of ppl who like that place bc they can easily claim some BS exemption. We asked about vax policy at ours and the description was pretty detailed and clear that they obviously expect everyone to be vax, subject to some exemptions in the law with documentation etc.

Op here. Yes! For example, when we selected a pediatrician, we picked one that was very clear that they did not accept children on alternative vaccine schedules. I'm not worried about covid vaccines, I'm worried about measles, etc.

Then keep your kids home. Reality is it's very rare for that to spread and the bigger issue is if your kids are vaccinated, not theirs.

We did a slower schedule. I just filled out the religious waiver and updated the shot records when we did the shots. No big deal. My kid had bad reactions if we did them all at once. Sometimes there are good reasons to slow things down.

omg we have a live one! "keep your kids locked up because i'm too stupid and selfish to understand basic science"

OP - if you can find a daycare comparable in convenience and appeal to this one that explicitly requires routine vaccines, just go with that one and de-risk your situation; fwiw all the ones i've looked at in MD do require them