Posted on 12/14/2007 3:55:42 PM PST by Libloather
NJ requires flu shots for preschoolers
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
TRENTON, N.J. --New Jersey on Friday became the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers, saying their developing immune systems and likelihood of spreading germs make them as vulnerable to complications as the elderly.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs approved the requirement and three other vaccines for school children starting Sept. 1, 2008, over the objections of some parent groups.
The new requirements "will have a direct impact on reducing illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in one of New Jersey's most vulnerable populations - our children," Jacobs said in a statement.
A health advisory board Monday backed the new requirements on a 5-2 vote with one abstention after parents said they worried about the safety of giving young children dozens of vaccine doses. Some also say they don't want government making their medical decisions.
Starting in September, all children attending preschool or licensed day care centers will have to get an annual flu shot, Jacobs said. That makes New Jersey the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers or older students, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
New Jersey also will require preschoolers to get a pneumococcal vaccine and sixth-graders to get vaccines against meningitis, which New Jersey already requires for college dormitory residents, and a booster shot against whooping cough, which in recent years has seen a resurgence blamed on waning potency of shots given to infants and preschoolers.
The four additional vaccines are recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups.
Some parents support proposed legislation that would give families a right to skip required immunizations by lodging a "philosophical objection," as some other states allow. The bill has been sitting in a committee without action for several years.
New Jersey does grant an automatic exemption on religious grounds and allows exemptions for medical reasons.
The new vaccines will be available for free for low-income families, and private insurers generally will cover the cost.
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NJ health department site: http://www.state.nj.us/health
New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination: http://www.NJAICV.org
The fatality rate of tetanus is about 40%, far higher than I care to risk. I will not pass on that one, however, tetanus is not contagious and not getting the tetanus vaccine will only hurt yourself.
Polio? It’s highly contagious, but again, those vaccinated are safe and it appears to be one of the safest ones around.
I wouldn’t pass on that one either.
As far as flu, this is ridiculous. They only guess/speculate/whatever they do to try to determine which flu strain is likely to become dominant and produce the vaccine for it. I think requiring a shot for something that it may not protect against is way over the line. It’s worse than useless if they get the wrong strain.
Sure, it isn’t “oppressive” until YOUR child or a child close to you is injured or killed by a “mandated” vaccine.
You'd probably have to change jobs, but then freedom isn't free, it sometimes requires sacrifices...
Not sacrificing your freedom. Then you aren't free; you're slaves of the state.
So you have to give up your freedoms to remain free?
I seeeee......
The report I heard to day definitely stated all “licensed day care centers” were included.
Just where do you think the state gets its money?
Agreed. We’ve been doing the papertowel bit too, for about 5-years. My mom had cancer for so long (she died two years ago) that we were mostly concerned with my nephew (my parents and I had joint custody) bringing some nasty bug home from school that might do her in.
I noticed when my mom was fighting cancer that the doctors made sure she had flu and pneumonia vaccinations. That told me that it isn’t the vaccinations that do people in, it is the depressed metabolism due to lack of good, proper eating habits. With sufficient vitamins and mineral supplements your body has what it needs to fight off the bad “cooties”.
I’m not talking about which day care centers the law targets. I was responding to the claim that most private schools require flu vaccinations for all preschoolers, independent of the new law.
It’s one thing for the state to require appropriate vaccinations when it’s in the best interest of public health. It’s a different matter entirely when they require inappropriate vaccines for monetary reasons.
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You’re not giving me enough information here, but I am thinking:
1) He was infected by a virus not covered in the flu shot, and it was a coincidence that it occurred on the same day.
2) He WAS covered but was infected the same day as the flu shot and did not have enough time to develop antibodies against it.
3) He may have died from something other than the flu. It may have started as a simple cold virus that later became a bacterial pneumonia.
By the way, I did not get a flu shot this year and I am over 60.
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Bingo!
There are always a small portion of people who do not build antibodies when vaccinated. No matter how many vaccinations they would receive they would always be vulnerable to the disease. When the majority in the population ARE immunized, there is much less chance for the non-immunized to get the disease.
Workers in the medical profession should get vaccinated against Hepatitis B. Some workers never develop antibodies, no matter how many times they get the shot. If the population at large is immunized against Hepatitis B, their exposure to Hep B is greatly reduced, and therefore, they have much less possibility to get the disease. ( Of course, all medical workers should use universal precautions.)
One more example:
A son of a friend had measles even though he was vaccinated. Apparently, he never developed antibodies to measles. He was exposed to measles at some point at school, church, or in the neighborhood. Who knows. When the majority of the population is immunized, one case of measles remains one case, it does not grow to be hundreds or thousands.
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The mother of my roommate in nursing school taught in a one room school house into the mid-1950s. It was then “consolidated”. The children are now confined in a building that likely looks like a minimum security prison.
I have hep C from a blood transfusion when I was a teen.
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I am very sorry to hear this. Really. What a bummer.
I lived as a kid in New Jersey and it has only gotten more leftist since I left.
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So did my husband. The only people of his family remaining in New Jersey are the old people and one childless cousin and his wife.
The rest of us now live in red states.
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The best way to do that is to change how people think.
Thankfully, we now have the internet, talk radio, and Fox News. Government schools are FINALLY getting the bad press they so richly deserve.
I read an article not too long ago that indicated there are still a few one room school houses around in some of the more desolate areas out west. I don’t recall much more about the article, I just remember being somewhat surprised that there still were some out there.
nanny
Try the libertarian solution of wearing cloves of garlic around your neck.
Something else did him in not the flu shot. Years ago the flu shot contained a live virus and you DID get a small case of the flu. That is no longer the case, the flu vaccine contains a killed virus and you cannot get sick from it. You can catch something else, other flu strains not included in the vaccine, from other sources. Sorry about your loss but you need to stop spreading these false stories. People die everyday from complications of the flu. Flu shots help to keep that from happening.
No one in my family will ever get a flu shot. Can parents opt out of such “requirements”?
I’ll safely assume that CA is next.
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Let's call this what it really is: RANSOM!
( Yes, I am shouting. When are the American people going to wake up?)
Yes, we can pay ransom if we wish to break the choke hold that government school workers have on our kids. If we choose not to ransom our children by paying extra for private or home schooling, government school workers will send armed police to the door. If we were to be so foolish as to resist, the police will arrest us. Courts will send us to prison. Government bureaucrats will take the kids and put them in foster care. If we were to sufficiently resist, armed police would kill us. ( Real bullets in those guns on the hip)
Aren't government schools great? (barf!) And, teachers expect to be treated like Mother Teresa for this. (It's for the chiiiildren, you see. )
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