Every parent knows the sound of their own child’s pain-riddled tears. It is a sound that stabs our ears, shoots right up the spinal cord, and spins our souls round and round like a roller coaster in hell. As a parent, you would rather spend eternity listening to fingernails scraping haphazardly on a chalkboard than listen to one moment of your child’s tears that you gave someone else the permission to inflict. Pediatrician offices understand the pain they are forced to inflict, as well as the anguish it inflicts on their poor parents, which is why they are always stocked up on lollipops.
I, like many parents, foolishly thought that any kids who attended public schools needed to be vaccinated; as in, all of them. It was like an unwritten social contract; that we all agree to protect our children to the best of our abilities, even if it required a moment’s worth of pain. We all collectively, albeit individually, decided that our children should only know of an iron lung during history class. Then Hollywood, not the medical community, Hollywood, told the crunchy parents they are inflicting health maladies on their children, and the social agreement was tossed in the paper shredder.
I, like many parents, foolishly thought that any kids who attended public schools needed to be vaccinated; as in, all of them. It was like an unwritten social contract; that we all agree to protect our children to the best of our abilities, even if it required a moment’s worth of pain. We all collectively, albeit individually, decided that our children should only know of an iron lung during history class. Then Hollywood, not the medical community, Hollywood, told the crunchy parents they are inflicting health maladies on their children, and the social agreement was tossed in the paper shredder.
It is a strange human condition we all suffer from: humans are seemingly eager to believe that there are people who are total strangers to us but are still doing maliciously horrible acts upon us, rather than believing the far more benign idea that the human form is simply imperfect. That sometimes, bad things happen --- even to the most health conscious people. The crunchiest of parents, parents who breast-feed for a year or more, who buy all the most natural foods, use only organic diapers, never smoke or drink, and make sure the every toy in their home is made with the best woods and painted with the most digestible paints, and intellectually stimulating, well, their kids will still get sick. Not can get sick, but will get sick. The truth is, no matter how proactive a parent is, sometimes things just don’t go right. It is not a reflection on the parent that a child gets a cold or an ear infection, but what about Whooping Cough, Measles, or Tetanus?
It was not until recently that I thought to do some investigation of vaccination rates in my home state. I have two kids, one who is too young to get her first dose of MMR; and honestly, I was getting a little frightened by the speed of the spread of Measles. Now, I am not one of those parents who naturally panics, but I am also not a parent to just brush off danger without knowing the entire picture ahead of time. Kids get sick, I know and accept that. If my baby gets the flu, I will be ready with the chicken soup and cuddles. But Measles? I think Measles have built up resistance to chicken soup and parental cuddling.
The truth of vaccination rates is actually quite surprising. In actuality, the only states that require their students be vaccinated before attending school are Mississippi and West Virginia, and West Virginia has a bill in the works to add Religious exemptions for parents. Another tick of the clock, backwards for our children's health.
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| Mississippi is soon to be the ONLY state in the US with very defined limitations on how you can waive vaccines and go to public school. |
The fact is, vaccines work. This is an accepted science, the world over. What is frightening is that the United States Ranks #94 out of 187 in the world for vaccinations, behind countries like: Jamaica, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Malawi, Burundi, and Iceland.
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| This person is not medically trained. |
In New York and 27 other States, we are far more cautious about children, schools, and vaccines…. kind of. In more than half of the states in this Union, the only way your child can attend public school is with proof of vaccinations, or a medical exemption, or a religious exemption. Now, as a parent, I am empathetic to the struggles of all parents. We are all doing our best to raise our children with the information available to us. Certainly, if a child has a medical reason not to be vaccinated, and their medical professionals believe the child is too susceptible to a live vaccine, they should not get it. But the struggle of those children is the exact reason why the rest of us need to step up and act like adults and get our kids vaccinated. We all snuggle our kids a little closer when we know someone whose child gets diagnosed with something terrifying. It is a terrifying and sobering situation when you are forced to think of your child’s mortality. I just don’t think that you should be able to do all the snugglies with a clear conscience, unless you are also willing to doing your part to protect that other parent’s child from your own kid’s bugs.
So what qualifies as religious exemptions? Are there specific religions that are protected, or does the Church of Crunchy Parenting qualify?
In New York, the law provides a religious exemption "to children whose parents, or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs [against vaccinations]. There are no litmus tests by which to prove this genuine and sincere assertion, not a church letter, no references to verify, not even a single religious document that convincingly eschews western medicine in favor of prayer. All a parent or guardian need do is write an essay of any length, explaining that your religion forbids your child from getting vaccinations. Conveniently, I am sure you can even mail it from the McDonald’s mailbox. Mail it right off to the state capitol, where some overworked bureaucrat, who likely has no religiously scholarly training, will determine whether you qualify for this exemption. As soon as it gets that stamp, you’re done.
Parents who do vaccinate their kids for school seem to be punished for their efficacy. We have far more responsibilities to fulfill in order to keep our kids current in school: keep bringing the kids to the doctor, which is no easy task, once they are old enough to connect the odor of rubbing alcohol to throbbing pain, make sure that all shots are current and records are updated if we move at some time in 18 years, make sure that all records are kept updated for school, and make sure that anything involving the school nurse is actually kept 100% accurate. Please make note, your doctor’s office may require more than 24 hours to turn around a vaccination form, so if you don’t want Johnny to miss school, you’d best keep your records up to date, and make sure you submit the form to your doctor’s office with sufficient turnaround time. Remember, your child’s school can deny admittance if medical records are out of date by two weeks or more.
It would seem that a family asking for a religious exemption would have to at least reaffirm their faith every year. Nope. You have your stamped sheet, and as long as you don’t lose it, you are done.
Currently, under New York law, you only need to provide this religious release form, and you are done. The only way you would have more work to do than that is if a principal requests the parents or guardians provide more detail as to their religious convictions or affiliations. Speaking as a former public school teacher, this is extremely unlikely. When principals have nightmares, they are of angry parents confronting them on pretty much anything at all.
As diseases that were once extinct make a raging comeback, and kids who were once safe due to the efficacy of other parents are now being infected all over the country, it is time that legislators put their reelections on the line, and crack down on school vaccinations.
The very notion of this being a hard line sounds ridiculous. It feels like I am saying legislators need to put their is should be an outdated concept. Sometimes a legislator needs to be brave enough to do what’s right, even if it means they have to go out and get a real job after the election.reelections on the line and openly admit that puppy dogs are super cute. It just seems like a no brainer. Will they get harassed? Yes. That is what Internet Memes are for. But if you were elected to serve the people, it seems only right that the needs of the community at large should supersede a cushy career. This notion that the loudest squeak gets the grease in politics is should be an outdated concept. Sometimes a legislator needs to be brave enough to do what’s right, even if it means they have to go out and get a real job after the election.
If, as a parent, you choose to send your child to a public school, you need to accept the rules that the rest of the masses live by, and play by those same rules.
If you indeed do think you know better, and want to get your child an education, but not a vaccination, that is also your right. Here is a happy medium: send your child to a private school that embraces your libertarian bent. Send your child to a school where all parents and staff are aware of the same risks, and accept those risks in total.
Every parent or guardian who chooses to send their kids to Pertussis Preschool knows that they are assuming certain risks. And as a teacher, janitor, or administrator if you apply to work at PP, you are knowingly accepting those risks as well. All participating families are knowledgeable of the risks they are taking.
The problem for most public school parents is that they don’t know that there are kids in the school building who are not up to date on all of their vaccinations until a letter comes home that the school has been shut down due to epidemic illness. And the staff, which may also have young kids at home, they did not sign up for your vaccination rhetoric. Now, if the staff or their kids bring the disease home, it costs that worker sick days, vacation time, or salary. If your politics are that vaccinations are wrong, then send your child to an institution with the same values, where everyone takes the same risks with knowledge and responsibility.
To let unvaccinated children into a public school classroom, with no regard for the health of hundreds of other children and adults in the same building just seems selfish to me. I am not arguing against education for children whose parents don't believe in vaccinations, I am simply arguing that all families who believe in vaccinations have the right to feel safe when their kids shuffle off to school in the morning.
Your right to practice your faith in your way does not equate to a denial of my children to a medically safe school day. No, there are no guarantees my kids don’t come home with the flu, but it doesn’t mean that we eschew all protections.
You may argue that you have a right to untethered religious freedom, and I agree 100%, if you practice in an environment that does not endanger my family. Sending your unvaccinated child to my child’s school denies my family the right to make proactive choices to best protect us from epidemic diseases; and keeping me ignorant of that choice just makes your actions dangerous.
I believe strongly that you have the right to worship however you choose, without fear of judgment or recrimination. However, I also believe that I have the right to not plan my child’s funeral; simply because you exercised your religious freedoms.
I truly believe that all parents operate unselfishly- trying to make decisions in their child's best interests. If your faith's values could put other people's children in harm's way, you should have the right to comply with the mainstream or educate through other avenues; not least of which are home schooling and private schooling.
Educate your child, but don't deny another parent piece of mind just because some politicians fear criticism on a controversial issue.
We need some brave politicians in our State Legislatures to seize this current momentum on vaccinations. Lets make public schools safer by insisting on a very safe shot for all public school children. Stop selling fear of the unknown, when the known is far more frightening.
Wayne N. Brown
Buffalo, NY
