Not as sick as the unvacccinated kids!
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You both turned 5 together? |
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I'm just amazed by the anti/delay vax folks! How do you find the time to devote to all that research? Doctors spend years in medical school. Pharmacists spend almost as long. All those hours of studying and researching! How on earth do you find time to do your regular jobs, parent your kids, AND become experts in immunology?
Makes wonder if you do your own car repairs and root canals as well? |
Some of it is common sense. If your child has several sets of vaccinations and has high fevers, cranky and other issues (including an ER visit) common sense is to slow them down. Not everyone can handle the full set. Our docs told us they lump so many together as most parents will not come back more frequently or even for their regularly schedule appointments so they lump them together to make sure the kids get them all. If you show a track record of coming back, they don't care. And, yes, we do some of our own car repairs, most of our own house repairs and a lot more. I'd rather DIY and send my kid to college. |
I worked out an alternative/selective vax schedule WITH my pediatrician. We have autoimmune issues. Anyway, the op's question is answered. It is a check box and a signature in MD. School officials have much bigger concerns and don't, as I said earlier, bat an eye. As for your friendship, that depends on you I guess. I am friends with republicans. |
Here is the form: http://phpa.dhmh.maryland.gov/OIDEOR/IMMUN/Shared%20Documents/896_form.pdf There are two grounds for exemption, the medical contraindication and the religious exemption. The medical contraindication says, "The above child has a valid medical contraindication to being immunized at this time". A medical provider signs the medical contraindication. The religious exemption is "Because of my bona fide religious beliefs and practices, I object to any immunizations being given to my child." If the reason you don't vaccinate is your bona fide religious beliefs and practices, then you're not lying when you sign the form. If the reason you don't vaccinate is anything else, other than a medical contraindication, then yes, you actually are lying when you sign the form. |
I'm not going to argue about whether I feel it is lying (I do - but I also don't think a lie is always a great moral failing and I certainly don't think it is in this case). But "religious beliefs and practices" is an elastic term that can comfortably stretch to include many things, and I am sure many who sign the form don't feel they are lying. |
I have to disagree. "Religious beliefs and practices" is only an elastic term for people who choose, and are permitted, to make it so. It's a convenient lie (and let's call it a lie, because it is) for ignorant, paranoid, selfish people who want to exploit the herd immunity created by the responsible and well-educated among us, and who are totally fine with endangering our precious children with their unvaccinated ones. (Who I feel very sorry for, both for their health risks and the misfortunate to be born to such self-centered and stupid parents.) I am passionate about almost nothing else as much as I'm passionate about this issue. Anti-vaxxers disgust me. The fact that anyone is still hanging on to these totally discredited, debunked b.s. ideas is just pathetic, and so dangerous. |
^^ *misfortune* |
+1 (although I don't do my own car repairs). We followed this same path with our frail kid. |
I see you're not acquainted with the concept of herd immunity, Junior. |
YES!! +1000. |
Natural immunity doesn't last. Everyone I know who got the Chicken Pox had to get vaccinated, me included, because the immunity doesn't last. |
I think that "religious beliefs and practices" is an elastic term for people who are using this exemption for non-religious reasons and want to justify their lie to themselves. |
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I don't understand why people who want to spread out the shots get any sort of exemption including falsely claiming a religious exemption.
For those who don't want to do too many shots in one visit and want to space out the vaccinations, that's fine. But you know that you'll be entering a public school with rules on having vaccinations by a certain age. So rather than starting at the usual time and pushing the envelope back, make sure that you start early and ensure that all vaccinations are done by the time you enter the public school. So, if you want to space out the shots over a six-month period, try starting six months before the first day of public school and then space them out however you want. You know that you're going to get the vaccinations. You know that you're going to enter a public school that requires vaccinations for the protection of the entire school community. So work with your doctor to get the shots done before the start of school. Religious exemptions should be for those people who belong to religions who expressly do not allow vaccinations and who will not be getting vaccinations at all. |