Has anyone ever Changed their states exemption requirements?

[thebirthsource]

Has anyone done this successfully? I am a little embarrassed, as I teach a vaccination class and have since the year 2000, but we just moved to a new state (Utah) and my daughter is enrolling part time in high school. In Nevada where we're from, all you had to do is write a note of religious exemption, in Utah they require some mumbo jumbo about going down to the health department, having an official witness you sign their form, they keep one copy, you take the other. Frankly, I'm bothered by it and consider it an intrusion into my rights. I'm considering taking this one to change the requirements to making it easier and less of an intrusion to exempt. So, I'm wondering if anyone here has done that so I can get a clear understanding of what I'd be getting myself into. Thanks,
Amy

[MadameXCupcake]

The same birth source with the polls?
I found my midwife and ped because of you. :

Edit - Sorry I am no help to your question though. xD

[emma1325]

I tried for 2 years when living in Mississippi, a state which has only medical exemptions available to parents. I started a little support group that grew to a pretty good size and we networked with the Nat'l Autism Assoc./MS and the Nat'l Vaccine Information Center. Here's the website for our group: http://www.meetup.com/vaccine/ The group is still working to improve the laws. It most likely will take a while there because MS is a little resistant to change.

Meetup is a pretty good site to start and manage an organization. (It does charge a small monthly fee.)

Also, check into what Dawn Richardson did in Texas. google: Dawn Richardson and PROVE. You could try contacting her to see if she could give you some advice.

[ammiga]

Nothing changed yet, but I did contact my local representative about the possibility of state mandated vaccines (especially the H1N1 vax, but we discussed all of them). I found our interactions very enlightening.

What I discovered is that my representative (who was very responsive to me!), hadn't given the subject of vaxing any different thought than your average Joe.

I started out by inquiring about the possibility of mandatory vaxing, and here is where our conversation ended (names and states made anonymous):



Dear Representative,

I think I am getting a bit of information from these emails, but not a direct answer to my concerns. Can you please tell me, if a proposal is brought-up mandating a flu vaccine (be it H1N1 or otherwise), would you vote in favor of this or against it for:

- All citizens of our state?

- Children? (regardless of parental consent)

You also made mention of alternative decisions to others that do not pose a health threat to others. Are you referring to voluntary quarantine? Would you require that as an alternative to mandatory vaccination? Would you allow for in-home quarantine, or would you accept/require everyone to go to a mass group quarantine? Or is there another alternative decision that you were referring to? I would greatly appreciate for you to elaborate on the alternative options you mentioned, and how their inclusion or lack thereof would influence your vote, should it come to that.

Thank you,

Ammiga



Dear Ms. Ammiga,

I have been as direct as I know how. My position is a general one. Clearly you have thought through many nuances of this policy area--something that I have not done. I will do so, but I am not prepared to answer all your additional points at this time. Thanks for providing me an incentive to research all ideas about health care mandates and choices.

Sincerely,

Representative



So, anyway, while I didn't get anything changed, what I realized was that our government hasn't given vaccine issues the kind of thought that we have. They are just like the average person that doesn't really question what is going on and doesn't think of all the far reaching affects that a decision or law that they approve can have.

I was really pleased with the result of our contact, and hope that my representative really does give the issue more thought and prompts other representatives to do so as well. I would urge you to contact your local government and see what they say!