Those of you who live in Oregon - how do you avoid vax for school?

[moonjunio]

I'm considering moving back to the Portland area, but now we have a kiddo and I have to think about how it affects our vax choices. From what I understand, in Oregon you can only get an exemption for medical or religious reasons, not "philosophical."

So how do you get your kids into childcare and school? Are you stuck with homeschooling? Which vaccinations specifically are required? Can I join a Church of the Holy Nonvaxer... Is it hard to find doctors who don't push them down your throat?

Thanks

[zinemama]

It is extremely simple. When you go to enroll they will hand you the vaccination form. Down at the bottom there is a box that says "Religious Exemption." Check the box. You are done.

No one will ever ask you about your religion. They will just be happy that you completed the form and turned it in.

I am a delayed/selective vaxxer and I just check the RE box anyway. It's easiest. No one needs to know that my kids have only had certain vaccinations.

(My kids are in public school, by the way)

As for doctors, mine is quite mainstream, pro-vax. But after I told her we were not vaccinating (my initial position), she has never said a single word about it to me in all these years (although she did ask me to sign a form saying I understood what I was doing.)

Really, Portland is Crunch City. This is not a problem.

[root.beer.float]

Originally Posted by zinemama

No one will ever ask you about your religion. They will just be happy that you completed the form and turned it in.

Ditto! Southern Oregon here....I signed the waiver four years ago for my two oldest when they entered public school, and again last year when my youngest started. I checked the religious exemption box on all three forms and I've never once been asked about it.

[caned & able]

There are towns in Southern Oregon that have about 25% of the kindergarten population not vaccinated at all.

It is against the law to ask you to elaborate on your religious beliefs. I know that it is done in New York State, but that is another thread...

[neetling]

Just so you know the posters are right about it being easy to file a religious exemption, but the school can pull a vax record from online if they want to. Might affect the people who partially vax. I do think though that the form had all the vaxes listed and you could check what you want. We used to vax but stopped. I filled out what they had (since the school could get that info anyway) and signed a religious exemption for the rest.

[moonjunio]

Thank you everyone for the replies! I accidentally didn't subscribe to my own thread so I thought I didn't have responses (duh). Anyway it is definitely comforting to know that the exemption is easy. I downloaded a brochure from http://oregon.gov/DHS/ph/imm/school/index.shtml confirming that I wouldn't need to document religion and that ethical beliefs counted. Also selective vax appears to be fine! I'm not sure if that applies only to past vax, or if you can continue to document selective vax without issues....

[zinemama]

I tried to do the selective vax form for our preschool and ran into some kind of admin problems. I can't remember what it was, exactly, but I ended up getting a new form and just doing the RE. It was easier. I am gradually "catching up" my kids with vaxes, but there are still some they don't have and they're still on file as RE.

[moonjunio]

Interesting... thanks for the perspective on selective vax, glad that the initial mis-step (whatever that might have been) was rectified by just doing the RE. So there's actually a selective vaccination form?

Maybe it depends on the administrator but I suppose a lot of places would just want the right boxes checked and whatnot. At first I thought Oregon sounded a little more draconian than California because there's not specifically a philosophical exemption, but it's sounding like the religious one is nearly the same in practice.

[zinemama]

No, it's the same form. Now that I think about it, I believe that was the first year they came out with the selective option, and someone thought I hadn't filled it in completely, assuming my kid was all vaxed. Schools may be more familiar with it now.

[moonjunio]

Oh I see! Well I expect it will change again by the time I need to worry about it :-P