Teachers

[notjustmamie]

So, I've been wondering about this lately. Public school students have to be vaccinated or have their parents fill out paperwork explaining why they aren't. Do any states require that teachers be up-to-date on their vaccinations?

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by notjustmamie

So, I've been wondering about this lately. Public school students have to be vaccinated or have their parents fill out paperwork explaining why they aren't. Do any states require that teachers be up-to-date on their vaccinations?

I don't think so...my entire family is full of teachers in both public and private school...no requirements

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by Marnica

I don't think so...my entire family is full of teachers in both public and private school...no requirements

Hmmmm......ironic, isn't it?!?

[Momma2Kai]

As an Ohio teacher:

My school must've pulled a shot record because I was offered the HepB series due to not having a record with the health department (was a few years ago...my memory is sketchy of exact details). I declined. No issues except each year they re-offer it to me. I just have to sign a new form stating I decline. No fuss, no exemption maze.

[stik]

In my state, students don't have to be up-to-date on their vaxes, but the school has to have a current copy of their shot records. When I was filling out paperwork at my dd's school yesterday, I realized that her shot record was missing. I explained this to the program coordinator, and requested and signed an exemption form.

As a teacher, I cannot recall being asked for my vaccination records. I don't think I have a copy lying around. If I was asked when I was hired, I probably requested an exemption for that, as well.

There is no mandatory vaccination schedule for adults, so I think a school would have very limited grounds for asking about it.

[Scattershoot]

Originally Posted by Mama~Love

Hmmmm......ironic, isn't it?!?

That goes for doctors and nurses as well. I've posted several articles on how nurses and doctors don't take the flu shot, and when the smallpox shot came out it was a complete debacle because doctors and nurses put up a huge stink and refused to get it.

It will be interesting to see what percent line up for the swine flu shot.

The bottom line is children are defenseless. Little babies can't stand up for themselves and say "No." Vaccination is one of the greatest injustices ever done to babies in history and that is not an exaggeration.

[pollyanna]

When I worked at the hospital We were given the flu shot every year. I spent alot of time advoiding the nurse that was giving them.

Pollyanna

[GAjenn]

I had to be vaxed to register for college in GA.

[Hey Mama!]

When I went to college the first time in 97 I was lacking a vax and had to get it to live in the dorms. As someone working in a public school I was never once asked about vax status.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by Scattershoot

That goes for doctors and nurses as well. I've posted several articles on how nurses and doctors don't take the flu shot, and when the smallpox shot came out it was a complete debacle because doctors and nurses put up a huge stink and refused to get it.

My experience and from reasing I find most nurses and other personnel who work at the hospitals (including hospitalists, MD's) are pretty much coerced into getting the flu shots.

With private doctors it depends on how high the ladder they are. Surgeons and specialists are pretty much exempt and have traditionally refused all vaccines.

[true2Him]

Entering school, they require a vax record. I was offered a Hep B series and flu shot every time I worked with the mentally disabled and residents in a treatment facility due to dealing with body fluids and possibly being attacked, bitten, having some foreign substance thrown on me while dealing with a resident with aggressive behaviors. I was never asked about immunizations when employed, and that's counting '99 and '06 hiring dates with two different companies.

[Baby_Vol]

Dh is a public school teacher, and they have never asked him about his vaccines at all.

[lovbeingamommy]

As a p.s. teacher for almost 20 years, I've never been asked to provide any type of documentation. However, when I went to Humans Resources before this last school year was out I did notice that there was a sign and it stated that you needed your MMR . Of course I have no idea how they enforce this or even if they do. This is in AZ.

[notjustmamie]

Originally Posted by stik

There is no mandatory vaccination schedule for adults, so I think a school would have very limited grounds for asking about it.

Are vaccines for children mandated by the government or simply recommended? I always understood it to be the latter, but maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, I'm wondering if school officials who make a fuss about keeping unvaxed kids out of school in the case of a VPD outbreak would have the same attitude about unvaxed teachers?

[stik]

Originally Posted by notjustmamie

Are vaccines for children mandated by the government or simply recommended? I always understood it to be the latter, but maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, I'm wondering if school officials who make a fuss about keeping unvaxed kids out of school in the case of a VPD outbreak would have the same attitude about unvaxed teachers?

This is my *limited* understanding of how mandatory vaccines work, based on how it seems to go in my state.

Vaccines for children are mandatory, which means that insurance companies have to cover them, and public health clinics have to offer them. However, at least around here, you can get an exemption simply by signing a form. The schools are required to maintain current vaccination records on students, and are audited once a year (allegedly.) If more than 10% of students have an exemption form on file, then the auditing agency gets upset, or so I am informed.

I hear that unvaxed kids have to be kept home in the event of a VPD outbreak. However, as a teacher I know it's not as simple as that. In my district, a designated official from the state or county health department would have to contact the school superintendent to announce that this type of disease outbreak has been confirmed and this type of action must be taken. The superintendent would then contact principals, who would order school nurses (or the person designated to handle the vax paperwork where a nurse is not on site full time) to pull the exemption form file and start calling parents. We could not just say "Hey, a bunch of second graders got chicken pox - send home all the non-vaxers!" At least, not unless the Health Department ordered the superintendent to do so.

As we know, vaccines are not 100% effective, so there's a decent chance that we actually wouldn't send home all the non-vaxed kids, because that still wouldn't stop the outbreak. Further, depending on the circumstances and the community, sending kids home from school does not exclude them from group care settings. Parents have to work. Most VPDs are not that serious for most immunologically normal school children. In terms of containing the outbreak, it's probably better to have the germy school kids in school, then to have them spending the day visiting Gramma and all her friends in the nursing home, or spending the day with a DCP who also cares for infants, you know?

At least, I've never heard of the non-vaxed kids being sent home in this state. And I assume I would have heard because in April, when the state was closing schools for swine flu, my students were REALLY excited. (And a few parents called the office reporting their kids had been diagnosed and we had to close. They were disappointed to learn that the school closing process was more complicated than that.)

[phrogger]

I am not a teacher but I work in schools. I was not asked if I was up to date, but I was asked if I had the hep b vaccine and when I said no, they offered it to me and gave me a slip to take it to the health department to get it for free if I wanted it. I considered getting it but didn't get around to it. I was offered because of the type of job I did, but they did say they don't even offer it to everyone. I just have a job where there was a high chance of contact with blood and my skin being broken.

[baglady]

I was a teacher in my former, pre-momma life. I was never asked about my vaccine status. I was offered a flu shot for $10.00 at flu shot time, but that's it.

[sjsbates]

I'm a new teacher and am required to get a physical. On the form, it asks if I've had the smallpox vaccine, but that's it. I don't have to submit my records or anything. (And no, I have no clue why they want to know if I've been vaxed for a disease that's been eradicated, other than the form is 50 years old.)

The system does offer flu shots to us for cheap, and are currently offering the swine flu vax for free, but they aren't required, just offered.

[spedteacher30]

my state requires that anyone who works in the public schools has a recent TB screening, but no other vaccines.

I have had plenty of colleagues who got whooping cough from students at our middle school.