More kids get nonmedical exemptions from vaccines

By MyHealthNewsDaily Staff

The percentage of school children obtaining exemptions from required vaccinations for nonmedical reasons is increasing, a new report says.

In 2011, just over 2 percent of school children were exempt from getting their vaccines for nonmedical reasons, up from about 1 percent in 2006, the report found.

"Our results show that nonmedical exemptions have continued to increase, and the rate of increase has accelerated," in recent years, the researchers at Emory University wrote in a letter published today (Sept. 20) in the New England Journal of Medicine.

All U.S. states allow children to be exempt from vaccination requirements for medical reasons — some children are allergic to vaccines, others have conditions that severely compromise their immune systems, and could make vaccination dangerous to a child's health.

In addition, 48 states allow exemptions for nonmedical reasons (Mississippi and West Virginia do not). Nonmedical exemptions can be granted for religious reasons or philosophical reasons, though fewer states allow philosophical exemptions than religious ones.

For their report, researchers used data on vaccine exemptions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  for school years 2005–2006 through 2010–2011.

They found that the rates of nonmedical exemptions were 2.5 times higher in states that allowed philosophical exemptions, compared with states that allowed only religious exemptions.

However, the rate of exemptions was rising faster in states that allowed only religious exemptions, the report said.

The researchers also looked at state exemption rates in terms of how difficult exemptions are for parents to get — some states use a standardized form to request exemptions and make this form available at schools, others require parents to go though the state health department, or require a specifically worded letter or notarization.

Over the study period, the exemption rates were higher in states with "easy" exemption policies, compared with states with "difficult" policies. In 2011, the average exemption rate in states with easy policies was 3.3. percent, while it was 1.3 percent in states with difficult policies.

"In an earlier analysis of data from 1991 through 2004, we found an increase in exemption rates only in states with philosophical exemptions and in states with easy exemption procedures," the researchers said.

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Parents are better educated about health issues than the "experts" ever imagined. The "experts" seem to forget this generation of parents is the same generation that had siblings die or become permanently brain injured from the DPT. Families don't forget.

    Reply#1 - Fri Sep 21, 2012 3:25 AM EDT

    What this article of propaganda is implying is that the people who are refusing some vaccines are causing disease and outbreaks of disease. This is a factless article without proof. What it fails to show is the health outcomes of these conscientious and educated vaccine refusers. It also fails to mention, on purpose, that the majority of whooping cough cases have been in the vaccinated.

    This article," Turning Vaccine Exemptions Into Class Warfare", nails it on the head of what is happening on a grander scale.

    Drs. Omer and Halsey are now calling for doctors to deny even more children medical exemptions to vaccination because they are unhappy that states with stricter non-medical exemptions have a higher rate of medical exemptions! [14] [15] [16]

    So let’s get this straight – what Drs. Pan, Omer, Halsey and medical trade groups really want is for state legislatures to grant doctors police powers to force parents to violate their conscience and deeply held religious beliefs in addition to doctors having the power to deny medical vaccine exemptions to children, many of whom are already vaccine injured.

    That is a lot of power. That is power without accountability or liability.

    Could it be that doctors with financial ties to medical trade associations, vaccine manufacturers and government health agencies are lobbying so hard to severely restrict or get rid of all vaccine exemptions because, every day, there are more and more Americans, who know somebody who was healthy, got vaccinated and was never healthy again?

      Reply#2 - Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:04 PM EDT

      Informed Consent: A Human Right

      The human right to informed consent to medical risk taking is a universal ethical principle that should be respected by doctors in every nation, especially in America, where we have a long history of respecting the right to self-determination.[17] Doctors refusing to protect children from vaccine injury and death because they do not want their authority questioned [18] should not be given the legal power to force anyone to violate their conscience or religious beliefs.

      Parents, who have witnessed their children regress into chronic poor health or die after vaccination, belong to every class and every race, religion, philosophy and political party in America. Today, they are joining hands with parents of healthy children and fighting to protect medical and non-medical exemptions that it looks like doctors will try to gut or completely take away next year in states like Arizona, [19] Connecticut, [20] Maryland, [21]Oregon, [22] [23] Colorado, [24] New Jersey [25] and many more. [26]

        Reply#3 - Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:06 PM EDT

        I would also say my children have the right not to be infected by people's unvaccinated children. You are free not to have your children vaccinated butyou are not free to spread infection.

        As for vaccination deaths although tragic they are breath takingly rare, more children are allergic to peanuts than the vaccination and 1000x more children suffer from reactions to antibiotics than to vaccinations. We are working with unfounded implications that the danger in vaccinations is high and endemic where neither is true.

          #3.1 - Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:13 PM EDT

          I would also say my children have the right not to be infected by people's unvaccinated children. You are free not to have your children vaccinated butyou are not free to spread infection.

          You are free to VACCINATE your own children. You are even free to vaccinate them 10,000 times if you wish. You have no right to force someone else to be subjected to a medical procedure. Perhaps you agree that you could force some to be sterilzed. Perhaps you feel that is your right. But that doesn't make it so.

          • 2 votes
          #3.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:11 PM EDT

          I would also say my children have the right not to be infected by people's unvaccinated children. You are free not to have your children vaccinated butyou are not free to spread infection.

          Why... if your kids are vaccinated are you worried about them becoming infected???

          Why would you vaccinate if it didn't protect them....That's just stupid:o

          • 1 vote
          #3.3 - Mon Oct 1, 2012 6:41 PM EDT

          Chelms71 YOU are the stupid one. There is a schedule to vaccinations. Vaccinated babies are not protected against all diseases, because they have not finished receiving all of the necessary shots; therefore, they can catch diseases from other people/kids in the population who have not been vaccinated. If all children/people are vaccinated properly, then the disease will not be able to manifest itself in the population and, therefore, not be able to infect babies and young children who have not finished receiving all of their shots. Get your facts straight first!

            #3.4 - Mon Oct 1, 2012 8:13 PM EDT

            If all children/people are vaccinated properly, then the disease will not be able to manifest itself in the population and, therefore, not be able to infect babies and young children who have not finished receiving all of their shots.

            Then explain the high rate of whooping cough vaccine uptake and the cyclical "outbreaks".

              #3.5 - Tue Oct 2, 2012 12:16 AM EDT
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