Can I selectively Vax and do Public Education?

[thenaturefreak]

I currently have a religious exemption with the school district so my daughter can attend public school unvaxed. Recently I have been looking into selectively vaxing but am concerned that if I choose some but not all the mandatory vaccinations that I will be forced to either fully vax my child or pull her out of public school.

I would love to find out more information about this, but have found in the past the school district employees don't even know their own policies that well. I live in the Clark County School District in Nevada if that helps any.

Any help, ideas, etc... are greatly appreciated!

[Deir]

My kids have had some of the vaxes and I claimed a religious exemption. I have never heard of anyone challenging it around me but I am not an expert

[mamabeca]

In NY you can't selectively vax and use the religious exemption, unless you have special permission from your local school district supervisor.  Here, it wouldn't fly, but in some less conservative areas, it would.  Talk to the office and make an appt to see whoever is in charge, as they have the final say, at least from my exp.  Good luck!

[emmy526]

Originally Posted by thenaturefreak 

I currently have a religious exemption with the school district so my daughter can attend public school unvaxed. Recently I have been looking into selectively vaxing but am concerned that if I choose some but not all the mandatory vaccinations that I will be forced to either fully vax my child or pull her out of public school.

I would love to find out more information about this, but have found in the past the school district employees don't even know their own policies that well. I live in the Clark County School District in Nevada if that helps any.

Any help, ideas, etc... are greatly appreciated!

i would think if you want to vax your daughter, why would the school need to know about it if you have a religious exemption in place?  Just keep the vax card to yourself, and that way you have your own record should a mishap warrent an ER visit, you can show them she is up to date on whatever vaxes.  

the only problem i can forsee is if the school has an outbreak of something and you will have to keep her out of school for whatever time the board of health deems necessary.  I also think if you were at that point to tell the school, "oh she has had that vaccine for this outbreak", it may make your exemption null and void, rendering you guilty of making a false statement (in the schools eyes).  And at that point the school may require you to catch your daughter up on all vaxes.  
 

[Taximom5]

It depends on the reason for your religious exemption.

If, for example, you were opposed on religious grounds only to vaccines containing cells derived from an aborted human fetus, then you should be able to receive vaccines NOT containing those cells.

On the other hand, if you are opposed to any of those vaccines for other reasons (say, the presence of mercury or aluminum), your religious exemption would not cover that in that particular circumstance.

I like the idea of selectively vaccinating and keeping the results to yourself, but I think that's treading on dangerous waters in some states. It's a very complicated issue, and a very frightening one, considering the lengths some of these states go to, to ensure that you have no right or say in what is injected into your child's body.

[mamabeca]

NY has a state wide vax data base, so can't keep the info to yourself - docs have to submit.

[thenaturefreak]

My biggest concern is that our state does have an immunization registry here: WebIZ . Schools can access it to know which children have had what vaccines. So if we do selectively vax then the school will know without me telling them.

Has anyone had experience with selectively vaxing and registries like this one?

[Marnica]

Do you even know if you are enrolled in this program? I would call and ask. If you are enrolled, opt out. Participation in this program in Nevada is voluntary and you can opt out at any time.

http://health.nv.gov/PDFs/Immunizations/WebIZ_conf-sec_policy_2009-05_MH.pdf (look at the third to last paragraph)

Also if you read your state law's carefully, having a religious objection to immunization in Nevada implies (as it does in my state) that you have an objection to the practice of immunization. You would not be able to selectively vax without losing your exemption. As for being able to object to a vaccine merely based on it's being derived from aborted fetal cells - this is NOT considered a religious objection, but a philisophical one. You could do this in a state that recognizes that type of exemption, but not in Nevada. Youe best bet if you want to do some at this point is to opt out of the registry and keep it to yourself, but this does have it's drawbacks since if there was an outbreak of a VPD in your district your child may then be excluded from school, because as far as they are concerned, your child is still unvaxed.

 

Originally Posted by thenaturefreak 

My biggest concern is that our state does have an immunization registry here: WebIZ . Schools can access it to know which children have had what vaccines. So if we do selectively vax then the school will know without me telling them.

Has anyone had experience with selectively vaxing and registries like this one?

[blessedwithboys]

Originally Posted by Taximom5 

It depends on the reason for your religious exemption.

If, for example, you were opposed on religious grounds only to vaccines containing cells derived from an aborted human fetus, then you should be able to receive vaccines NOT containing those cells.

On the other hand, if you are opposed to any of those vaccines for other reasons (say, the presence of mercury or aluminum), your religious exemption would not cover that in that particular circumstance.

I like the idea of selectively vaccinating and keeping the results to yourself, but I think that's treading on dangerous waters in some states. It's a very complicated issue, and a very frightening one, considering the lengths some of these states go to, to ensure that you have no right or say in what is injected into your child's body.

Is this advice state-specific to the OPs locale?  My understanding is that in most states, religious opposition must be to the practice of vaccination and not the vaccine ingredients themselves.

OP, in my state it wouldn't work, but I'm in a different state than you.  Where I am, you submit the exemption to the school, which then sends the name on to the county HD.  If you were to take your child for a vax, it would raise a red flag.  And opting out of the registry raises and even bigger and wavier flag.  Someone in my state would have to go across state lines to make it happen.

Remember, you can change your mind and stop vaxing anytime, but if you use and exemption and then vax you lose your exemption.  Again, this applies in my state, but many states are similar.

[thenaturefreak]

Thank you, I really appreciate the time and thought you all put into your responses! Looks like I have some thinking to do now. I will keep delaying vaccinations for now until I can figure out the best thing for my family.