Father asks school to bar unvaccinated children.

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children : Shots - Health News : NPR

Carl Krawitt has watched his son, Rhett, now 6, fight leukemia for the past 4 1/2 years. For more than three of those years, Rhett has undergone round after round of chemotherapy. Last year he finished chemotherapy, and doctors say he is in remission.

Rhett cannot be vaccinated, because his immune system is still rebuilding. It may be months more before his body is healthy enough to get all his immunizations. Until then, he depends on everyone around him for protection — what's known as herd immunity.

But Rhett lives in Marin County, Calif., a county with the dubious honor of having the highest rate of "personal belief exemptions" in the Bay Area and among the highest in the state. This school year, 6.45 percent of children in Marin have a personal belief exemption, which allows parents to lawfully send their children to school unvaccinated against communicable diseases like measles, polio, whooping cough and more.

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The consequences of not vaccinating your children stretch further than your own childs life, but this is an interesting exercise in whether the father should require other children to also be vaccinated to accommodate his sons disease. Would a better solution be for him to just take his son out of the line of fire?

Personally I would do the exact same thing as the father in that situation and make that same request. I also hope that the request is granted as a blow against ignorance.

Nilly said:

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children : Shots - Health News : NPR



The consequences of not vaccinating your children stretch further than your own childs life, but this is an interesting exercise in whether the father should require other children to also be vaccinated to accommodate his sons disease. Would a better solution be for him to just take his son out of the line of fire?

Personally I would do the exact same thing as the father in that situation and make that same request. I also hope that the request is granted as it's a blow against ignorance.

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What, is there no other way to accommodate the kid? They've run out of all options? Have they even tried anything else?

So he isn't healthy enough to be around other kids, but his dad wants to send him to school anyway and this is the other kids problem? Ok...whatever.

American said:

What, is there no other way to accommodate the kid? They've run out of all options? Have they even tried anything else?

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The kid who had leukemia is the one that needs to be accommodated?

How've we gotten to the point where it's acceptable for hippie parents to oppose vaccinations, at the expense of immunocompromised individuals -- the sick, elderly and babies and pregnant women?

Nilly said:

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children : Shots - Health News : NPR



The consequences of not vaccinating your children stretch further than your own childs life, but this is an interesting exercise in whether the father should require other children to also be vaccinated to accommodate his sons disease. Would a better solution be for him to just take his son out of the line of fire?

Personally I would do the exact same thing as the father in that situation and make that same request. I also hope that the request is granted as a blow against ignorance.

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In a word (two actually):

Home School

American said:

What, is there no other way to accommodate the kid? They've run out of all options? Have they even tried anything else?

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Un-vaccinated kids should be banned. They are nothing but a danger to society as a whole. Look at the measles outbreak in California.

brothern said:

The kid who had leukemia is the one that needs to be accommodated?

How've we gotten to the point where it's acceptable for hippie parents to oppose vaccinations, at the expense of immunocompromised individuals -- the sick, elderly and babies and pregnant women?

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Kids with immune systems like this boys shouldn't be in school around other children. This has nothing to do the dangers of not getting your kids vaccinated, but with an idiot dad that is sending his kid to school when he shouldn't.

The better option would probably to create some sort of micro-class where the kid could attend the school in a smaller situation with a handful of other kids who have been vaccinated and let that group move on a slightly different schedule or something. IDK. He need @Helix to create a mosquito that vaccinates people when it bites them or something.

Henrin said:

Kids with immune systems like this boys shouldn't be in school around other children. This has nothing to do the dangers of not getting your kids vaccinated, but with an idiot dad that is sending his kid to school when he shouldn't.

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Kids that are walking biological weapons should be deported.

American said:

What, is there no other way to accommodate the kid? They've run out of all options? Have they even tried anything else?

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It is well known that there is no such thing as tutoring, or home-schooling, or private schooling.

Gosh. If only there were some policy that would enable parents'..... some kind of.... oh, I don't know..... "choice"..... or something.... when it came to how their children were schooled.

brothern said:

Kids that are walking biological weapons should be deported.

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:shrug: I don't get my kids the full giant battery of vaccines they shove at you nowadays. You are welcome to try to take my children. Note that I am betting my .556 rounds run faster than you do.


What an awesome stance for a libertarian to take.

PeteEU said:

Un-vaccinated kids should be banned. They are nothing but a danger to society as a whole. Look at the measles outbreak in California.

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Agree here

let me make sure i understand the situation

the father wants unvaccinated students to no longer attend his son's school, because his son is unvaccinated

why should this one student's unvaccinated circumstance trump the situation of the other unvaccinated students

There are plenty of things that cannot be vaccinated for. Not to mention the fact that people who have been vaccinated can still potentially carry some of those things around. This kid should not be going to school if it is that much of a risk.

My kids had their vaccinations before starting school. Even then, every week or so, especially the first few months, they get sick. My son's first teacher said it was normal. It happens because kids who have not been around other kids have not developed the immunities. My children did not go to preschool. My oldest just tends to attract illness. So he gets every single bug that other kids brush off. Children with compromised immune systems should not go to public schools if their parents are that afraid of them getting sick, even if they required every known vaccination, no exceptions. There are simply too many other "bugs" out there that get passed quite quickly around any school environment.

Nilly said:

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children : Shots - Health News : NPR



The consequences of not vaccinating your children stretch further than your own childs life, but this is an interesting exercise in whether the father should require other children to also be vaccinated to accommodate his sons disease. Would a better solution be for him to just take his son out of the line of fire?

Personally I would do the exact same thing as the father in that situation and make that same request. I also hope that the request is granted as a blow against ignorance.

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It is the law here in Canada, at least here in Toronto, that upon registration for Kindergarten, the parents must present full immunization records for their child. Otherwise, the child will be refused enrollment.

That said, this father's request is a little over the top and reminds me of the whole peanut allergy kerfuffle where parents were being told what they can or can't send to school for lunch with their kids.

Just out of curiosity, from a privacy perspective, how would the father or the school know if any children in the school have not been vaccinated if it's not a legal requirement of enrollment?

brothern said:

Kids that are walking biological weapons should be deported.

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All kids are potentially "walking biological weapons" along with every adult. You cannot vaccinate for everything.

The idea that a school can force a kid to do something with its own body is appalling.

brothern said:

Kids that are walking biological weapons should be deported.

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As a gay man, weren't you pretty much appalled when some ignorantly suggested the same kind of thing for those afflicted with HIV and AIDS not so long ago?

cpwill said:

:shrug: I don't get my kids the full giant battery of vaccines they shove at you nowadays. You are welcome to try to take my children. Note that I am betting my .556 rounds run faster than you do.


What an awesome stance for a libertarian to take.

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It's interesting - when I went to school in the 1970's there were was 1 inoculation and then 2 boosters at various times - but the inoculations were much lower in volume:

1970's

Polio vaccination
Combined vaccination for Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis (DTP vaccine)
Combined vaccination for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR vaccine)
Smallpox


Today

Hepatitis B
Rotavirus
Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (combined DTaP vaccine)
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)
Pneumococcal
Polio (inactivated vaccine)
Influenza (yearly)
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (combined MMR vaccine)
Varicella (chickenpox)
Hepatitis A
Meningococcal (certain high-risk groups only)


Granted - technology marches on, lessons learned and all that - but I gotta tell ya, that's a lot of **** right there to get inoculated for as a K-12 kid. I don't have kids so I have no horse in this race but that may make me a little more non-biased than most and I can see why people may be a little hesitant. That said, when I went into the Army I got a shot that pretty much killed any chance of me catching anything for like 8 years. I didn't even get a cold or atheletes foot, according to what I found this is what I was given:

Army

Adenovirus, Types 4 and 7
Influenza
Measles
Menigococcal
Mumps
Polio
Rubella
Tetanus-diptheria
Yellow Fever

Now that Army inoculation looks more like what kids are getting today. But really, I have no idea what they shot me with and when I went overseas I got boosters and other shots as well. :shrug:

cpwill said:

:shrug: I don't get my kids the full giant battery of vaccines they shove at you nowadays. You are welcome to try to take my children. Note that I am betting my .556 rounds run faster than you do. What an awesome stance for a libertarian to take.

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Cute. My slugs are bigger. Your children are a threat.

Ockham said:

It's interesting - when I went to school in the 1970's there were was 1 inoculation and then 2 boosters at various times - but the inoculations were much lower in volume:

1970's

Polio vaccination
Combined vaccination for Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis (DTP vaccine)
Combined vaccination for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR vaccine)
Smallpox


Today

Hepatitis B
Rotavirus
Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (combined DTaP vaccine)
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)
Pneumococcal
Polio (inactivated vaccine)
Influenza (yearly)
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (combined MMR vaccine)
Varicella (chickenpox)
Hepatitis A
Meningococcal (certain high-risk groups only)


Granted - technology marches on, lessons learned and all that - but I gotta tell ya, that's a lot of **** right there to get inoculated for as a K-12 kid.

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We basically went through and looked at transmission. Why they wanted to inoculate my infant daughter against STD's I don't know. We got MMR and Tetanus, and I think maybe two others, but that was all that you really had to have, if you were just assuming a "being a kid" lifestyle.

The father's request is no doable but surely his motives in wanting his sick kid to return to normalcy is admirable. There is always room for compromise in these situations--they just have to find it. If I had a kid in the school/grade, I would approach the school and say, "Look, you can reposition my child however you want to allow this other kid to have some kind of school experience. If that means my kid has to go on Saturday or start classes at 4 pm or be in a class with him held at another location or whatever, have at it."

brothern said:

Cute. My slugs are bigger. Your children are a threat.

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Not as big a threat as I am to those who would assault our liberties and my children. My 18 month old not inoculating herself against STD's is no risk to you, but your willingness to trample on the rights of others is a risk to us.

brothern said:

Kids that are walking biological weapons should be deported.

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This kid here could die if he gets sick and his brilliant dad is sending him to school where sick kids more than likely are. Again, this isn't about vaccines and not getting them, but about a dad that isn't thinking this through. What is this brilliant dad going to do next? Ask that all the other kids be banned, because who knows, there might be a kid with a cold. This kids dad is an idiot and pretty goddamn hypocritical if you ask me.

Nilly said:

To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children : Shots - Health News : NPR



The consequences of not vaccinating your children stretch further than your own childs life, but this is an interesting exercise in whether the father should require other children to also be vaccinated to accommodate his sons disease. Would a better solution be for him to just take his son out of the line of fire?

Personally I would do the exact same thing as the father in that situation and make that same request. I also hope that the request is granted as a blow against ignorance.

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i agree with the request. if you want to be an anti-vaxer, fine. however, you don't get to send your kids unvaccinated into incubation chambers like schools.