Posted on 05/10/2013 7:18:11 AM PDT by surroundedbyblue
It’s the time for senior prom, the countdown to the last day of school and for graduation. But at Norwin High School, 33 students were told they won't be able to participate in those days because they weren’t vaccinated against chickenpox, or failed to provide a vaccination record.
Norwin High School Norwin High School
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Kayla Boscia, a senior, never had the chickenpox vaccine.
“Twenty hours before the biggest dance ever and it just so happened they told me I was no longer allowed to go,” she said.
A letter from Norwin School District spells out the details, citing the Pennsylvania Department of Health as the reason for the regulations.
For the 33 students not vaccinated, there is a 21-day incubation period. That means no classes and no extracurricular activities until May 28. The district said it’s “unfortunate” that the incubation period encompasses the dates for prom (May 10) and graduation (May 24).
There are two ways the students could attend and return to school. Students and parents have the option to get a blood test, which proves immunity to the disease, or to get the vaccination before May 12.
“I went to the health clinic and got blood tests done to show they're immune to it or they've been subjected to it in some way, which takes 48 hours to four days to get those back,” said Lisa Grudowski. She’s a parent to a sophomore and a senior. The results of immunity won’t be back in time before the prom, and for personal reasons, she does not want her children vaccinated
(Excerpt) Read more at wtae.com ...
If parents refuse to inject their children with a vaccine produced with aborted fetal cells that they object to on moral or religious grounds, I guess the state feels it can bully them into compliance. Another example of out of control government.
Another example of out of control government.
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Yes, but I wonder how many times these students were told and reminded they needed to turn in their vaccination records?
Is the district willing to return every federal dime they recieved for these students butt’s being in seats throughout their education? I didn’t think so.
This article is very poorly written (big surprise, I know). It leaves out a very critical piece of information - how did this become an issue for the school right now? Obviously, these kids have gone through 13 years of school without being vaccinated, and it never stopped them from attending school or school activities before, so why now?
I suspect that the school has had a recent outbreak of chicken pox. That would explain why the author referenced the 21 day incubation period. Unfortunately, because few journalists these days actually learn how to write these days, we are left uncertain as to the reason for this action by the school.
But they do have a great competition high school marching band. There are priorities you know.
Children of God for Life just this month published their updated list of vaccines with aborted fetal cells: http://www.cogforlife.org/vaccineListOrigFormat.pdf
Yes, the school has been informed that a student has been identified with the virus. State regulations say that once chickenpox has been identified in a school unvaccinated students cannot attend school or school activities until the incubation period has passed. This is for their protection - but it's also for the protection of immunocompromised students who may not have the option of relying on vaccination for protection, and so need an environment as free of the disease as possible. The decision not to vaccinate does not only affect the person who isn't vaccinated - it makes them a potential source of infection for others.
One of my kids was immunocompromised through his schooling - he could not have most vaccines, and if he got sick, it could be much more serious than normal - even life threatening. I do believe people have the right not to have their kids vaccinated - but I don't think that right trumps my son's right to life.
While I understand your concern for your son, why should the whole world be penalized when your son could just stay home in a safer environment?
There is no right answer to this as someone will be deprived of something somewhere along the line. But it seems to me that if it’s a choice of one person staying home or 33 people staying home, the one should stay home. He didn’t do anything wrong, they didn’t do anything wrong, but someone has to stay home. May as well make the damages as minimal as possible.
Because it isn't that simple. If it was just a matter of my son missing 21 days of school (the incubation period) that might be entirely reasonable - but the problem is, once you have an outbreak that can become a rolling number.
Kid A gets chickenpox and infects Kid B, who 21 days later gets chickenpox and infects Kid C, who 21 days later gets chickenpox, and infects Kid D, who 21 days later gets chickenpox and infects Kid E, who 21 days later gets chickenpox and infects Kid F...
What you end up with a long term outbreak. The only way to stop that happening if you have a population with a significant number of non immunised kids is to take all of those kids out of the school for the initial incubation period. That includes kids like my son. Once the school has been chickenpox free for 21 days, and none of the kids kept out of school have got it, and you know none of the unimmunised kids have been exposed, you can let them all back in.
Keeping the immunocompromised kid at home won't stop the outbreak. If you've got 33 unimmunised kids in the school, the chances are quite high of a rolling outbreak.
You did a very good job of explaining how and why that works.
I’m sorry for the girl missing the prom, but here’s her life lesson. Choices have consequences. When you opt to not vaccinate, you are choosing the possibility of having to miss important events due to outbreaks.
We still have the right to opt our kids out of vaccinations in Pennsylvania. Though I suppose Obamacare is about to bring this to a screeching halt.
What do they do with kids who actually had chickenpox in their early years? My kids all had it before the age of 6, and one of them had it twice since his first outbreak happened very mildly. My children never received vaccinations. What do they do with these kids? It WAS noted in their medical records from the doctor though.
Yes. They take this approach for a reason. The immunocompromised kids are going to have to stay home anyway - so if keeping them home would solve the problem without inconveniencing anybody else, that would be the best way. But it just doesn't work in practice. Especially with chickenpox, where a person becomes infectious before symptoms appear, and there's generally at least a two week gap between infection and symptoms appearing.
Unusually, it also tends to me more serious with older kids - for young kids, it's normally a minor disease. It's once you get close to adulthood, the risks increase - so kids of an age to be having a prom actually need more protection than younger kids do in this case. For most viral diseases, it's the other way around.
And the thing is, the quarantine approach doesn't just protect the immunocompromised kid - it also protects the ones who have never been immunised by choice.
Generally speaking, evidence of previously having had chickenpox is considered evidence of immunity, in the same way vaccination is. A blood test that shows the antibodies are present will also normally meet the test. They just need to know the kid is unlikely to get the disease even if exposed. Vaccination, previous illness, or proven antibodies in a blood test all provide that assurance and mean exclusion from school is not required.
Note, that with these kids, a blood test would let them go to the prom. Unfortunately, it seems that the turnaround time for such test results isn’t fast enough.
Read the article excerpt. You can get a blood test to prove you have immunity.
Yeah, but their football team sucks. ;-)
So if you got the vaccination when you were 5, you’re okay with the school, even if there’s very little immunity left from it (why we get booster shots from other diseases - like tetanus, MMR, etc.) However, if you got the actual disease at age 5, and it’s in your medical records, you still have to go get a blood test to show that you have enough of the immunity left from it? Niiice.
I thought we had that choice in PA, too, but if you read the article, it quotes a school official saying that state law trumps religious exemptions. Since when??
And while some vaccines do need boosters, chickenpox doesn't need one. The vaccination normally gives lifelong immunity. That's why they don't normally give boosters for it.
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