Legal question for vaccinations

[Guest guest]

The excellent question below was sent to CHERAB from a medical

professional. Thought you would all like to see this answer sent

back from Dr. Marilyn Agin:

" Do you know if any parent has ever been sued for not vaccinating a

child? If a child were to get a disease passed onto them by a non

vaccinated child, can they sue? I have an immunocompromised patient

whose family wants to go to a school, but the school has a large

percentage of religious exception non vaccinated children

attending. They are worried about their child, and the father is

sort of a hot head who says he'll sue whoever isn't

vaccinated " because its the law " . I usually ignore whatever comes

out of this guy's mouth, but in this age of lawyers, he raises an

interesting point. "

" Once a family has religious exemption not to immunize, I don't

think they are breaking any laws. I don't know of any law suits, but

if this child is immunocompromised, he has to be careful just

walking around in the world, so to speak. The main purpose of

immunizing is to create " herd immunity, " meaning if enough kids are

protected, exposure to an infectious disease will not cause an

outbreak amongst groups of children. The risk is probably low for

this child to get measles, mumps, etc., in school. His family needs

to worry about more common illnesses, cold, flu, chicken pox, etc.,

and get direction from his pediatrician about how to handle day to

day exposures. "

Marilyn Agin, MD FAAP

Diplomate in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities,

American Board of Pediatrics

Medical Director,

New York City, Early Intervention Program

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