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BOSTON - Sabrina Rahim doesn't practice any particular faith, but she had no problem signing a letter declaring that because of her deeply held religious beliefs, her 4-year-old son should be exempt from the vaccinations required to enter preschool.
Parents use religion to avoid vaccines (OneNewsNow.com) (broken link)
With studies linking autism to mercury used in vaccinations, do you blame her? Whatever means she can use to get her ends.
If you're saying the problem is that she is not religious, I see it every day in "religious" people who do what they want, are as mean, hateful and judgmental as they want to be and claim they are saved.
I wanted to delay my daughter's MMR vax, but because she is in state regulated daycare, the state requires that she be fully vaxed on schedule to attend. We have only medical or religious exemption here. It was suggested to me that I could lie and get a religious exemption, but I did not feel comfortable doing that. It felt like lying about something too important. However, my feelings about the vax were not terribly strong. If I felt that the vax would truely hurt my daughter, I guess I probably would lie too. Really, wouldn't most people tell that lie if they felt that to not do so would truely hurt their child? I know people who have children with severe delays/ disabilities that they feel were caused by vaccines and they have refused to vax since then with their subsequent children. I can't blame them for lying for a religious exemption. I wish we just had a philosophical exemption or conscientious objector status or something, so that people wouldn't feel like they had to lie about their religious beliefs to protect their children.
I'm not a big fan of vaccinations myself. I do think that there are certain vaccinations that small children should get: Polio, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid. But, they have a booster shot for everything, a vaccine for everything, I can't stand it. The flu shot is another one I refuse to get.
I wanted to delay my daughter's MMR vax, but because she is in state regulated daycare, the state requires that she be fully vaxed on schedule to attend. We have only medical or religious exemption here. It was suggested to me that I could lie and get a religious exemption, but I did not feel comfortable doing that. It felt like lying about something too important. However, my feelings about the vax were not terribly strong. If I felt that the vax would truely hurt my daughter, I guess I probably would lie too. Really, wouldn't most people tell that lie if they felt that to not do so would truely hurt their child? I know people who have children with severe delays/ disabilities that they feel were caused by vaccines and they have refused to vax since then with their subsequent children. I can't blame them for lying for a religious exemption. I wish we just had a philosophical exemption or conscientious objector status or something, so that people wouldn't feel like they had to lie about their religious beliefs to protect their children.
Unless I'm not up with the times it seems to me that the decision to have your child vaxed should ultimately be the decision of the parents without having to bring religion into it. They have waiver forms that can be signed by parents even though schools say that your child can't attend unless they have them, they will still accept your child in the schools as long as they have the signed form. Just stating for heath reasons or issues you are not having your child vaxed should be sufficient for their records.
Unless I'm not up with the times it seems to me that the decision to have your child vaxed should ultimately be the decision of the parents without having to bring religion into it. They have waiver forms that can be signed by parents even though schools say that your child can't attend unless they have them, they will still accept your child in the schools as long as they have the signed form. Just stating for heath reasons or issues you are not having your child vaxed should be sufficient for their records.
The laws differ by state. Here in NC, we only have a medical exemption or a religious exemption. We do not have the philosophical exemption that many other states have, which is what you are suggesting. A medical exemption would be that your child is immunocomprimized or allergic to a vaccine component or something like that and is provided by the doctor, not the parent. A religious exemption would be for people who do not believe in medical interventions or things like that. I wish that we all had a philosophical exemption as an option too, but we do not here. That is why people feel forced to lie about their religious beliefs on the forms. Another option would be to homeschool, and then you don't have to worry about it at all.
The laws differ by state. Here in NC, we only have a medical exemption or a religious exemption. We do not have the philosophical exemption that many other states have, which is what you are suggesting. A medical exemption would be that your child is immunocomprimized or allergic to a vaccine component or something like that and is provided by the doctor, not the parent. A religious exemption would be for people who do not believe in medical interventions or things like that. I wish that we all had a philosophical exemption as an option too, but we do not here. That is why people feel forced to lie about their religious beliefs on the forms. Another option would be to homeschool, and then you don't have to worry about it at all.
Or at least not any that haven't been discredited...
BUT, there are things other than autism that scare parents away from vaxing too.
Personally I don't understand the fear of vacinating. What I do think though is that they give too many at one time...why does your one year old need 5 vacinations on one day...they don't and I never held to the exact schedule because I thought it was too overwhelming. But I also had no problem bringing them back once a month to get the shots done so they had them in time for school. Not vacinating your children doesn't only protect your own child (which is the biggest reason to do it) but it protects children who may not be able to be vacinated (to me all children are important) and therefore is the right thing to do if you are sending your children into a school environment.
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