Parents Ordered to Court for Kids' Shots

The Associated Press ^ | Nov 17, 2007 | MATTHEW BARAKAT

[Baladas]

Hundreds of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.

[SoftballMominVA]

Shot records are one of the few things schools can and do demand up front. Sometimes kids can slip through the system for a few weeks, but the school nurse eventually catches up

If you watch the video, the most common vaccines needed are the Hep and the Chix Pox - these are middle school vaccines that were just added and not needed until now. According to the report, some kids have been out of school for quite a while

[Kimmers]

Excellent point....I work as a school nurse and the hour’s we put in to trying to get parents to please give us the information is unreal....I do not think parents need to go to jail for this....the easiest thing would not let kids in school in the first place if they did not have the required immunizations or at least a letter filed from the parents stating why they are not immunizing their children.

Personally, I think the state is mandating way to immunizations at too young of an age....sometimes I feel like I am harassing parents

[Politicalmom]

Medical exemptions are available in every state, although they are hard to get. Most states have religious exemptions, and some have philisophical exemptions.

Schools lie.

[AnAmericanMother]

My pediatrician isn't sure that the cpx vaccine is fine-tuned yet. It takes a while, and it's pretty new.

My oldest was infected with chicken pox the old fashioned way -- she was covered all over with the little pustules, looked very very nasty, but the only remaining scar is one that took one eyelash, it looks like a tiny animal took a bite out of her left eyelid, but you have to know where to look.

My son caught it as an infant, and the doc thought he might have been too young to get full immunity, so we gave him the vaccine on top of the case of chicken pox.

My husband had chicken pox but got shingles anyway. So did my daughter -- about 12 years after her case of chicken pox. Fortunately they both had very mild cases.

[mdmathis6]

“The dad of a good friend of mine was paralyzed at age 16 by polio”

Since he was a “dad” it was good to know that not “everything” was paralyzed...or was it just a passing paralysis? It must have been an awesome woman to look past the man’s paralysis, to marry and have kids with him...obviously the man could certinly “work” around his paralysis to get his wife into a pregnant state....ahem “nuff said”!

[Thank You Rush]

“”I’m not quite old enough to remember when they closed the swimming pools because of polio epidemics . . . but EVERYBODY got their kids the polio vaccine because they remembered those days.””

Sorry - I am old enough to remember (71) and I’ve never been vaccinated against anything, nor my child, nor my siblings, nor their children, nor their children’s children. Exemptions can be obtained at schools if innoculations are against your beliefs. It’s a dangerous practice to presume to speak for EVERYBODY.

[NonValueAdded]

I believe in vaccination and my family is up to date with all but one vaccine - and I will fight them tooth and nail before I allow my prepubscent daughter to be an experimental lab rat. Yes, that vaccine.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, that's no barrier to having children, or so I am told. As you said, 'nuf sed.

He was a paraplegic for the rest of his life, on crutches until his shoulders gave out, then in a wheelchair. He lived into his 70s -- long enough to enjoy grandchildren!

He was a splendid man, brilliant, great dry wit. His widow is indeed a wonderful lady, she's an RN and nursing school professor and met him while she was nursing.

[NonValueAdded]

the easiest thing would not let kids in school in the first place

Catch-22, Kimmers, if you don't send you child to school, you go to jail anyway, simply on a different charge. At least here the judge is addressing the specific problem.

[AnAmericanMother]

My daughter hasn’t got that one either. She is 19 now and a devout Catholic — and she told the pediatrician abstinence was a whole lot better than the vaccine, and he agreed that it was her choice.

[Tennessee Nana]

That’s how it used to be...

the children dont start school or go back to schol if the shots are not current and up to date and on the approved shot record...sometimes the shots are not recorded on the parents copy...

Since the parent will be in trouble if the child does not go to school it is the parents responsiblity to make sure that their children have the shots...

The school system should not have to beg the parents for compliance, just refuse to enroll them...the parents will swiftly change their tune...

If there is a medical or religious excuse that should be forthcoming early...

if I had a religious reason to expect some favor for my child I would take care of that early in the process not 2 months after school starts...

[Thank You Rush]

“”Sorry - I am old enough to remember (71)””

Have to clarify that I am the youngest of 4 - oldest is 80, all still living and in good health.

[AnAmericanMother]

OK, I'll be very precise in my language -- everybody I knew, especially those of us who had had family and friends on the iron lung.

Like I said earlier, the 'herd immunity' allows some folks to have a free ride. But only a few folks, or the whole system breaks down.

Enjoy the ride. It wouldn't work if everybody thought like you.

[rocksblues]

Bingo, class of 65.

[shhrubbery!]

I'm old enough to remember the days before MMR -- and the kids who were blinded or retarded or killed by measles or rendered sterile by mumps. I'm not quite old enough to remember when they closed the swimming pools because of polio epidemics . . . but EVERYBODY got their kids the polio vaccine because they remembered those days.

I got my kids vaccinated for MMR and polio -- though I refused to go by the "schedule" that submits tiny infants to multiple shots, too early in life.

But when my state started mandating the HEPATITIS B vaccination (like Maryland is demanding here), I put my foot down. That's ridiculous.

The state has NO BUSINESS mandating Hep B shots. Hep B is not spread by casual contact, and little children are extremely unlikely to engage in the kind of behavior that transmits it (getting tattoos, engaging in perverted or promiscuous sex).

[darkangel82]

Good for your daughter, but why does a 19 year old still see the pediatrician?

[ari-freedom]

so she’s a nun and signed an oath of celibacy for life?

[AnAmericanMother]

I can see getting it before they start high school - because some doctors believe it can be spread through sharing towels, toothbrushes, etc. even though the primary means of transmission is sexual or dirty needles.

The authorities disagree about how likely Hep B infection through casual contact can be. The CDC pooh-poohs it, but some hospitals (e.g. Childrens in Philadelphia) say it's possible. And since the consequences are so horrible, my kids have the vaccine (my daughter is pretty safe, her patron saint is Maria Goretti, that'll give you an idea, but my son is JUST the sort of kid who would go get a tattoo at some fly-by-night parlour if a friend dared him . . . )

[stentorian conservative]

I refused to go by the "schedule" that submits tiny infants to multiple shots, too early in life.

Same here. Although by the way my Ped looked at me you woulda thought I had outright refused. It then became one of those situations where it was explained to me that I had no business making such decisions because I was not properly trained in the medical field.
Blech.

Trained or not trained, I got my way and he got paid.

[AnAmericanMother]

She sees him til she’s 21 or becomes sexually active.