Looking for advice for Military families and not vaccinating

[mrledee]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are expecting twins in the next few months and we are very excited.  We have both decided that we are not going to vaccinate our children.  I am enlisted in the Navy and she will deliver at BAMC (a military hospital in San Antonio, TX) and I wanted to hear from some parents who had experience not vaccinating their children that were in the military.

Did doctors hassle you or give you a hard time because you didn't vaccinate?  Are there any special forms that are required?  What about follow-up pediatric visits.  Just looking for some insight on what to expect.

Thanks everyone

[Imakcerka]

I was at Lackland so Wilford hall and I didn't have a problem with selective vaccinating.  If you're going to use daycare cdc or home daycare you do have to provide documentation for religious beliefs.  Kind of ridiculous.  We actually didn't do any of our vaccinations until our kids were older and they were fine with that.  Only problem and you'll notice this, for some reason the peds offices were always full ALWAYS!  Lots of sick kids, I tried to keep my kids away from what ever ailed half the military kids out there.  They will still see your kids and they will let you know that they need the vaccinations.  Don't get mad at them they're just doing what they're told to do.  You obviously already know there is no way in hell you'll get out of your vaccinations though. 

[mrledee]

I was looking up the rules regarding vaccinations before I posted on here and I found this document...

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/6000/Documents/6320-010.pdf

I think I read somewhere that the Navy has an exemption to vaccinations.  Has anyone heard of this before?

[Imakcerka]

I know there can be exemptions but it's pretty rare that they allow them.  Of course the navy is different than the Air Force. 

[nia82]

I'm confused whether you want an exemption for you or your kids? Your kids don't need exemption, they are babies, and there is absolutely no military rule that dependents need vaccines. Absolutely no rules. They do need exemptions if they want to enroll in daycare, school or if you PCS oversees. The military/DoD rules have religious exemptions. There are several threads on this forum about which DoD reg it is and then service specific. (Look for Emmeline II posts, she has compiled all the information). 

You as a service member basically have no choice of exemption for yourself. You'll have to put up with lots of shots and yearly Flumist (you can ask for your PCM for giving you a permission slip to go to Walgreens instead if you prefer injected dead flu shots over live shedding Flumist).

[member234098]

. 

Edited by member234098 - 5/27/12 at 4:02pm

[rabrog]

Your only hurdle will be daycare, military sponsored care/activities and going overseas.  My advice is skip military sponsored anything and don't hassle it.  The overseas part can be tricky and honestly, you may not have a choice but to keep them here while the military parent goes overseas.  Some people can get the paperwork signed, others can't.  It's simply a matter of who is at the top of the food chain when papers need to be signed.

As for the hospital birth, you only need it in writing that you are refusing any and all vaccines for your children.  Ask ahead of time - when you go in to register, they most likely already have forms you can sign for this.  Once the babies are born, keep them with you in the room as much as possible, no visits to the nursery without a parent present.  If they have to be in the NICU or something, plaster their "beds" with NO VACCINES signs - seriously, whatever you have to do.  If they are given Hep B, you have absolutely NO recourse and the hospital knows it.

Jenn

[pokeyrin]

The document you are looking for is BUMEDINST 6230.15A, specifically page 10 at the bottom talks about children attending DOD sponsored schools.