Anonymous wrote:I volunteer with a non-profit organization that assists children, and one of my fellow volunteers recently tested positive for exposure to TB. Previous comment is correct, we host people from all over the world in DC, and in some cases they are unwitting carriers of easily-preventable (through vaccinations) infections.

My fellow volunteer is on an antibiotic course now, so which do you prefer for your DC -- a vaccination or a long treatment with antibiotic medications which may result in more drug-resistant strains in the future.

Yes, when we brought my first DD home from China, even though she had passed the TB test before we left China, she had to re-take it b/c the dr. thought she saw something in her lungs. It turned out to be nothing, but this could be a very common thing that children bring from other countries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not a vaccination conversation but i personally don't want my child to be filled with tons of live vaccines at one time but you are welcome to do whatever you want with your child

Please take a science/immunology class! You sound like a backwater hillbilly when you make such statements.

Don't insult backwater hillbillies. I've known quite a few, and none would say anything this stupid. Only urban crunchies think like this.

Agree.

For the most part, it is the suburban crunchy assumption that whatever is "natural" is better/benevolent that is at fault for the bulk anti-vax movement's momentum. This mentality is also responsible for mantras as "trusting that you know how to give birth/ your baby knows how to be born." Nature does not care about you, and evolution has no qualms about casualties. Nature is neutral and chaotic. Everyone who grew up hunting and farming knows this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because she's a liar

And a moron.

How is someone a moron for slowing down immunizations after two sets of very strong reactions that the child had to be hospitalized. You are a moron for not getting every child is different and parents need to adjust their parenting to that particular child. There is nothing WRONG with not doing vaccines. We do most of them, but I don't care if other parents do not do them. It is the herd effect. And, for those who do not do it, kids have the option of doing it when they are adults or need them. There are some kids who have had very negative reactions from developmental delays to serious medical complications. Reality is most people will be ok being vaccinated but not everyone is. We always had the belief that everyone should do it till we saw first hand the the impact on our child. Now I saw do what is best for your child.

Yes, there is something wrong with not doing vaccines -- or rather, there is something wrong with not doing vaccines, in the absence of a documented medical problem. Otherwise, if you're not doing it because it's "too many too soon", or "the vaccines have never been tested for safety", or "there's formaldehyde and monkey guts in vaccines!", or "vaccines don't work anyway", or "it's better for a child to develop natural immunity", or "I prefer to strengthen the child's natural immunie system", or "AUTISM!", or "I'm not worried about measles, because nobody gets measles these days anyway", or "it's all a conspiracy by Big Pharma", or (fill in the blank), then there is definitely, absolutely, certainly something wrong -- morally, ethically, and scientifically -- with not doing vaccines.

THIS.

Respectfully, if your concerns fall under any of the above rubrics, I understand that you have concerns and feel that you have done "research" and "think independently on the issue." But virtually all the concerns trotted out just don't have very good basis in fact. Check the research again. Then ask yourself if the risk of exposure to these diseases, or causing exposure to others, is really the strategy you want to embrace. The anti-vax crowd nostalgically underestimates the health risks of the diseases targeted by vaccines. Vaccines are not without problems, but they are so much better than maladies they prevent, for all but a very few people. (And the health of those few people is placed in exponentially greater jeopardy by every child on a delayed schedule without a medically-sound reason.)

Anonymous wrote:I am paying $38k and I certainly hope my child will not be in a class with an unvaccinated child. The OP is entitled to do what she wishes with her kids but I am also entitled to have the school assure me that that is not the case.

38K - LOL!

One of my public school (gasp) students got a full ride to Harvard last year!

free education K-12 and beyond!

HepA is also a disease that's endemic in come countries, and many afflicted with it are asymptomatic at first, but highly contagious. How is this spread? Oral-fecal contact. PreK-ers learning to use the bathroom and not doing such a great job of washing their hands and then reaching their hand into a shared bag of carrots or pretzels? You've got yourself Patient Zero and a whole class of potential victims.

Lucky kids will have been vax'd; the others will suffer 4-6 weeks of fever, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and yellowing of their skin and eyes, AKA "strengthening their immune systems naturally." Also, those kids will be asymptomatic while infectious.

Has this been a problem in preK in DC? Not to my knowledge. Just presenting a very possible scenario for a susceptible age group. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it cannot.

I volunteer with a non-profit organization that assists children, and one of my fellow volunteers recently tested positive for exposure to TB. Previous comment is correct, we host people from all over the world in DC, and in some cases they are unwitting carriers of easily-preventable (through vaccinations) infections.

My fellow volunteer is on an antibiotic course now, so which do you prefer for your DC -- a vaccination or a long treatment with antibiotic medications which may result in more drug-resistant strains in the future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are close to adopting a child with Hep B. Maybe she'll be in class with your children, all you dumb parents who do not vaccinate or who delay vaccinating. Good luck to you all! Ta ta!

Oh snap!

In all seriousness, children in this area come from all different countries (adopted or not), and may or may not bring with them diff. things that YOU, the parent, may not think is common in children AT ALL. You may think, "Ho ho! My child is not hanging out with prostitutes! My child is not around homeless people! My child cannot get blood-borne diseases! Or sexually-transmitted diseases! " Well, in Asians, the rate if Hep B is MUCH higher, and not even really considered that serious. Babies get it from their mothers. This is just one example. You really are putting your children at possible risk if you do not vaccinate.

Anonymous wrote:We are close to adopting a child with Hep B. Maybe she'll be in class with your children, all you dumb parents who do not vaccinate or who delay vaccinating. Good luck to you all! Ta ta!

Oh snap!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not a vaccination conversation but i personally don't want my child to be filled with tons of live vaccines at one time but you are welcome to do whatever you want with your child

Please take a science/immunology class! You sound like a backwater hillbilly when you make such statements.

Don't insult backwater hillbillies. I've known quite a few, and none would say anything this stupid. Only urban crunchies think like this.

Agree.

We are close to adopting a child with Hep B. Maybe she'll be in class with your children, all you dumb parents who do not vaccinate or who delay vaccinating. Good luck to you all! Ta ta!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because she's a liar

And a moron.

How is someone a moron for slowing down immunizations after two sets of very strong reactions that the child had to be hospitalized. You are a moron for not getting every child is different and parents need to adjust their parenting to that particular child. There is nothing WRONG with not doing vaccines. We do most of them, but I don't care if other parents do not do them. It is the herd effect. And, for those who do not do it, kids have the option of doing it when they are adults or need them. There are some kids who have had very negative reactions from developmental delays to serious medical complications. Reality is most people will be ok being vaccinated but not everyone is. We always had the belief that everyone should do it till we saw first hand the the impact on our child. Now I saw do what is best for your child.

Yes, there is something wrong with not doing vaccines -- or rather, there is something wrong with not doing vaccines, in the absence of a documented medical problem. Otherwise, if you're not doing it because it's "too many too soon", or "the vaccines have never been tested for safety", or "there's formaldehyde and monkey guts in vaccines!", or "vaccines don't work anyway", or "it's better for a child to develop natural immunity", or "I prefer to strengthen the child's natural immunie system", or "AUTISM!", or "I'm not worried about measles, because nobody gets measles these days anyway", or "it's all a conspiracy by Big Pharma", or (fill in the blank), then there is definitely, absolutely, certainly something wrong -- morally, ethically, and scientifically -- with not doing vaccines.

School districts around the country are seeing a resurgence of whooping cough, tuberculosis, chicken pox, with an influx of students who are not immunized. I do not like my children getting all those shots, but I feel that we must all do our part.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got pertussis from a "delayed vaccination" child while I was pregnant. I'm thrilled with the parent's choice to inflict her do-what's-best-for-ME policies on me and my unborn child.

And just so you don't think I'm insensitive to the issue: I had severe reactions to vaccines which landed me in the hospital on several occasions as a child. I had great trepidation about vaccines as a result. In the end I just did my homework. Not having my child or my friends' children die from measles, contract polio, or end up in the emergency room with pertussis stopped my mental wrangling. Given my recent experience with pertussis I'm very firmly on the side of the health codes in DC. If you were at my school I would register a formal complaint, and potentially even leave the school.

As PP said, all of this is centrally registered. First it is screened by the school nurse and then it is sent to the Dept of Health. DC is not big on waivers, either.

I'm confused at to what you would be filing a report to. A child's medical records and history are none of your business. So, if my child has a reaction to food you sent to the school accidentally, should I file and potentially have your child removed. Based on your logic, all allergens should be removed from the school too as it is potentially hazardous to my child. We've had several reactions with ER visits from inconsiderate people who feel the need to touch other people's children after eating and not washing their hands. Perhaps, not hand washing is something to report too? Mind your own business and allow parents to do what is best for their child.

A food-borne illness absolutely should be reported to the health department. The FOOD would be removed, not the child. Its extremely important for the health department to be aware of such illnesses to protect those who are more vulnerable to serious illness.

If a child brings an allergen to school that is prohibited (and some schools have no peanut policies) then, yes, it absolutely should be reported so all the children at risk can be protected. Unless the child has the peanuts on his or her body say has eaten peanut butter and its on her fingers, then again its the food that wold be removed because its the food that is the contagion.

If someone is working in a restaurant and doesn't wash his hands, yes he should be reported.

None of these analogies make any sense because in the absence of vaccination, the child herself is the contagion. That is why we have vaccination laws. The whole point of public health laws is that it can never be only one person's business. A restaurant worker who doesn't wash his hands, a school serving contaminated food, a child going to school who has not been vaccinated -- all of these things affect all the other children.

When I get pertussis because your child isn't vaccinated it IS my business.