Long island new York and selective religious excemption need MAJOR HELP:,(

[nolajane]

I'm trying to see where to begin. I live on long island new York. Our preschools have never given us a problem about our delayed vaccine schedule. My daughter just entered kindergarten and the school nurse is threatening to kick her out of school if I did not get her the measles booster and two hep b shots. I had decided I was not giving my children hep b because I myself had the hep b shot at a sick visit on the drs office..we were talking about my upcoming trip to Mexico and recommended it. If I had known what I know now, I would never get a vaccine while my immunity was low. I was not educated on this subject on the time and listened to my dr.s advice. Little did I know I was maybe 2 weeks pregnant with my daughter. Once I found out I was pregnant, my dr assured me it was safe for my baby.
I gave birth to my daughter and never felt the same. A few months down the road I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Do I know if the hep b shot caused this? No but I have read their is a "possible link" to ms from the hep b shot. Being that my children have my genetic disposition, I do not want to risk this.
problem is that I gave her the measles shot but I do not want to do the hep b shot. I got a religious excemption form. I am Jewish and honestly it is not against my religion to give my children this shot..it's against me as a mother. I really feel lost and I think i may have screwed myself that the school nurse knows I did the measles booster.

In the state of new York is there anyway to selectively make a religious excemption? The only component I can find is yeast. I'm supposed to say that injected yeast into my child is against my religion?

[HappyHappyMommy]

I'm bumping up your post. This sounds like a stressful situation for you, OP. Anyone have information to share?
 

[LitMom]

Unfortunately, in New York, you cannot oppose only certain vaccines. If you're going to do a religious exemption, it must be to the entire practice of vaccination entirely. So... you can claim a sudden religious conversion that you will do no further vaccines... but I think they are likely to challenge it given the recent MMR...

Or you can look for a doctor who may be willing to write you a medical exemption for that specific vaccine. We have a medical one for DS due to hives and allergic reaction to Hep B, but these can be hard to get without a very clear reaction by that specific child to that specific vaccine. I would probably try that direction, however.

She can't require 2 HepBs given at the same time, by the way, she can only require that you start the series or continue the series on the CDCs recommended timeframe. (2 HepBs at once wouldn't help with immunity anyhow; dose 1 and dose 2 have to be separated by I think 6 months.)

One other option if your daughter has had one HepB shot might be to do titers rather than boosters. That means they draw blood and test the antibody level to HepB. For several things, high enough titers are acceptable instead of vaccines. I know MMR and Varicella are acceptable by titer instead of vax. I'll see if I can find out for HepB.

[Jennyanydots]

Nm- good luck!

[LitMom]

Here we go!

"Demonstrated serologic evidence of either measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B or varicella antibodies is acceptable proof of immunity to these diseases." from http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2370.pdf

Since I'm guessing your daughter has had one HepB vax, or they'd be telling you she needs 3 of them, not 2, I think your best bet is calling your doctor and asking for a titer test for HepB. It's a simple blood test, and hopefully she will test high enough that it will take the place of what the nurse is asking for.

[LitMom]

NY doesn't allow you to oppose one vaccine. It's all or nothing. 

Edited by LitMom - 9/28/12 at 7:04am

[Jennyanydots]

Originally Posted by LitMom 

No, NY doesn't allow you to oppose one vaccine. It's all or nothing. 

If you will notce, we cross posted and when I read your response I deleted mine. If you will please edit your post to delete my quote, I would appreciate it- TIA

[LitMom]

No worries, Jenny, it was a good idea. NY is just stringent about exemptions.

[Jennyanydots]

Thanks, litmom - yeah, that sounds like a difficult situation for OP. Hope she's able to work things out.

[reg423]

Nolajane, any progress with your situation? It might help to contact Gary Krasner at the Coalition for Informed Choice. I heard he's helped many in these situations. Best of luck - I'm praying for you!