[PROVE] Vaccine Exemption Article Houston Chronicle

[Guest guest]

[Dear PROVE Members,

The Houston Chronicle ran an article about the vaccine exemption on Sunday.

Although the article contains the usual rhetoric and has some misleading

manipulation of numbers, the benefit is that now many more families will know of

their right to an exemption - some of the school districts in the paper's

readership are notorious for concealing the information about the exemption or

even worse yet lying about it. Offit, whose " rap sheet " on his conflicts

etc. can be viewed at http://www.vaccinetruth.org/paul_offit.htm, was quoted as

saying that now that we have the conscientious exemption, " This replaces medical

correctness with political correctness. " Mr. Offit seems to be a little

confused. One-size-fits-all forced mandatory immunization achieved through

legislation is the by-product of special interests involved in the political

process, and blatantly usurps the parents' rights to make informed individual

medical decisions for their child. Is he deluded enough to think that passing

laws to grant drug companies and doctors liability protection from the harm they

cause people with vaccines is medically correct?

Please read the article below and address any comments you would like to make

based on information presented by those who oppose informed consent to

vaccination in a letter to the editor at viewpoints@... or by fax to

. Letters (250 words or less to be considered for publication) must

include the name, full home address and daytime and evening telephone numbers

for verification purposes only. -DR]

July 30, 2005, 10:34PM

School-vaccine waivers inject concern in experts

But parents say opting not to have children get shots is a control issue

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3288743

Thousands of parents across the state are exempting their children from required

school vaccines, despite concerns that Texas is one of the most poorly immunized

states in the nation.

The state health department has mailed 36,993 affidavits to roughly 11,400

people interested in claiming the " conscientious objection, " created by the

Legislature two years ago to give parents more flexibility to refuse shots.

Though some parents applaud the law, medical experts fear that Texas — and the

17 other states that allow such broad philosophical exemptions — are sending the

wrong message. Without the shots, they say, potentially fatal diseases such as

measles and whooping cough could make a comeback.

" In the area of public health, we typically have rules, " said Offit, chief

of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. " This

replaces medical correctness with political correctness. "

Parents can request affidavits for " conscientious objections " from the Texas

Department of State Health Services. The form, which must be signed and

notarized, replaces the state's religious exemption, according to House Bill

2292.

Parents still can seek medical waivers, too.

" To me it's an issue of parental rights, " said Rex, a Houston mother and

co-founder of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education, which lobbied for the

law for six years. " I feel like it gave parents more ability to control what's

done to their child. "

Record keeping at the state level is spotty, but a survey conducted in spring

2004 showed that at least 2,314 schoolchildren were covered by philosophical

exemptions. The Houston Independent School District, the largest in the state,

was not among the 81 percent of public school districts that responded to that

survey.

Keeping track

HISD officials, who track exemptions among kindergartners and seventh-graders,

said 72 students in those grades took conscientious exemptions in 2004-05 and

545 students took medical exemptions.

In Cypress-Fairbanks, 134 students districtwide took conscientious exemptions

and 241 took medical exemptions.

Though schools must track exemptions so that students without immunizations

could be removed in case of an outbreak, the state is not allowed to keep

databases of students with waivers. Still, state officials said they're trying

to compile more complete results so they could at least correlate any increases

in exemptions with increases in disease rates.

" We won't be able to do that for at least three years, " said Gamez,

school immunization-compliance coordinator with the DSHS.

Prior to the new law, children in Texas were exempted in 2002 from 33,426 shots

for medical reasons and 21,238 shots for religious reasons.

With little indication that exemptions increased significantly after the law,

parents who support the " conscientious objection " said the low numbers prove

that the state's poor immunization rate can't be blamed on the new law.

Growing list of shots

A study released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

puts Houston's vaccination rate for toddlers at 65.5 percent, the second-lowest

rate for an urban area in the nation. The lowest was El Paso County, with a rate

of 64.8 percent.

" It wasn't like all these people were waiting at the floodgates to grab a form, "

Rex said. " I haven't seen this rush out there. It's just that people feel more

comfortable with the way they can go about it. "

Rex and others said that a growing list of required shots likely will cause more

parents to take pause. Children of certain ages now need the hepatitis A vaccine

and pneumococcal disease vaccine to attend child care facilities and

pre-kindergarten programs.

Parents already have a range of concerns about vaccinations, including allergic

reactions and links to autism. They said they should have this increased level

of control.

" Every disease is different, every vaccine is different, and every child is

different, " said PROVE President Dawn , of Austin.

Aldine mother , who was getting shots for her 4-year-old son last

week at La Nueva Casa de Amigos Health Center, said she's never thought twice

about immunizing her children.

" I'm always had it in my mind that the babies always had to have the shots, " she

said in Spanish through a translator.

Called the best defense

Advocates, though, said school districts should be more open about advertising

the exemption. Too often the message they send is: " No shots, no school, " they

said.

South Houston resident Darla Ibarrola said she wishes she would have known about

the exemptions when her son got his last shot in 2003. She attributes her

6-year-old's autism to that shot, a hepatitis B vaccination.

" I didn't know it was an option. At that time, I believed by giving the

vaccinations, I was doing the best for my children, " she said. " I jumped on the

bandwagon. "

Some public health officials insist that the vaccinations are the best way to

protect public health.

Texas had 497 cases of hepatitis B, 642 cases of whooping cough (also called

pertussis) and 5,778 cases of chickenpox in 2004, according to health department

statistics.

" Without these immunizations, we run the risk of having a major outbreak, " said

Kathy Barton, chief of public affairs for the city of Houston Department of

Health.

Diseases would spread quickly among children with low immunity, she said.

Rather than focusing on the small percentage of parents — usually less than half

of 1 percent — who exempt their children from vaccinations, advocates said

public health experts should try to reach the 20 percent to 40 percent of

parents who want and need vaccines for their children.

F. Nan Wagoner, chairwoman of the Gulfton Immunization Initiative, said she's

been surprised to learn how many people in her community are not immunized.

Many residents are recent immigrants, struggling with poverty, language barriers

and a lack of education.

" We're talking about people who are walking around with terrible diseases that

would kill us all, " said Wagoner, an attorney.

If there was a pertussis or measles outbreak, " we could just have dead babies

all over the news, " she said. " It's kind of like turning back the clock 100

years. " jennifer.radcliffe@...

------------------

RESOURCES

VACCINE OPTIONS

Waiver process

How to request a " reasons of conscience " waiver:

* Put it in writing: Send a written request that includes the full name of the

child, the birth date, the legal guardian's complete mailing address and the

number of forms needed for each child to the Department of State Health Services

Immunization Branch at 1100 West 49th St.; Austin, TX 78756. Requests can also

be faxed to .

* Response: Affidavit forms will be sent via U.S. Postal Service within one week

from the receipt of the request.

* Time limit: The official Texas DSHS affidavit form must be notarized and

submitted to school officials. The form must be submitted within 90 days from

the date it is notarized.

Free immunization

Houston-area Rotary clubs are holding the following free immunization clinics

for children this week:

* 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the East End Community Family

Center, 7524 Ave. E

* 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Holy Ghost Catholic School, 6921 Chetwood

* 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Ripley House, 4410 Navigation

* More information: www.houstontx.gov/health/Immunizations/index.html

www.cdc.gov/ www.tdh.state.tx.us/immunize/public.htm

www.vaccineinfo.net/index.shtml

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Dawn

PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)

prove@... (email)

http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)

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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices

that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to prevent vaccine

injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make

informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family.

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This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.

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