I am not calling anti-vax people nuts, etc. but they are putting other children's health at risk, including any parent who is pregnant if that unvaccinated child comes down with some of the childhood diseases that are now totally preventable. I am not 81 but I am in my mid-70s and know that parents today do not have to worry as they did in past times that their children will come down with a preventable disease, develop complications, and possibly die.
Most vaccines today do not have the preservatives that someone referred to in an earlier post. Research has shown that vaccines do not cause autism. And, in fact, a better understanding of autism is coming out of scientific studies of the condition.
I do not think these families do not care about their children. They just have developed some irrational fears that are guiding their reactions to the idea of vaccinations.
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-21-2020 08:40 PM
From: Julie Edwards
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
I'm with you Joanie. Many of the families who object to vaccination are doing so out of the belief that the pharmaceutical industry is not to be trusted. They have reasons to believe that. (Along with your list, remember when baby aspirin was the drug of choice for babies - we know better now). I'm 81, old enough to remember polio outbreaks leaving people disabled for life, mumps causing sterility in male children, measles destroying vision, whooping cough and scarlet fever closing down schools, and more. My own conviction, that vaccination is the best public health tool we currently have to lessons the likelihood of epidemics sweeping up our children, is based on my experiences. BUT - I also know that the families I work with who will not vaccinate their children are acting from a place of legitimate concern for their children and understandable distrust of the pharmaceutical industry. Attacking them as "anti-science", ignorant, superstitious, "religious nuts", etc. ends any chance of dialog or of building understanding of the public health dangers of not vaccinating. In California both public and private programs are not allowed to enroll children who have not been vaccinated. The result is children not going to school at all. Surely we would be in a better position to protect children if we worked with these families as intelligent, caring people rather than making outcasts of them and their children.
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[Julie] [Olsen Edwards]
Soquel CA
Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2020 08:42 AM
From: Joanie Calem
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
To Sheri and Nora Jane...since the can of worms called vaccinations is already open here...and the question about religious exemptions is under attack in many states right now...I would just throw this into the mix...parents who choose not to vaccinate their children do not do so as an irresponsible act, they do so because they are concerned about the health of their child. And yes, that has a strong basis in Judaism along with every other religion, so religious exemption, or conscientious exemption, are very applicable. It is very true that only science is science...but the responsible science about the long-term effects of the number, type and preservatives used in vaccinations has not been done in the US. Other countries are starting to do that research and the results are concerning to say the least. Like people are realizing, what the media tells us is not always the whole story, and pharmaceutical companies are regularly being shown to have made profit over people moves (think opioid crisis), and the vaccination industry in the US is not immune from that practice unfortunately. This is not an either-or scenario, which is what the media and people screaming at parents who are making an unpopular decision is trying to make it look like. And no, I am not a conspiracy theorist! I would just issue a plea that you work with those parents from a place of compassion rather than judgement and derision.
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Joanie Calem
Music and Inclusion Specialist
Sing Along
Columbus, OH
Original Message:
Sent: 02-19-2020 02:30 PM
From: Sheri Brown
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
Nora Jane, This is indeed our (synagogue's and most other synagogues') take. Educators and non-medical personnel do not decide matters of health. We have doctors for that. My personal belief is not science. Only science is science. We require all without MEDICAL exemptions to be vaccinated.
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Sheri Brown
Director
Tikvat Israel ECC
Rockville MD
Original Message:
Sent: 02-19-2020 02:01 PM
From: Nora Krieger
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
Interesting. I have never heard of this in Judaism. It sounds like a way to just avoid vaccinations when there is no medical reason involved. It would seem that the interpretation given to "guarding your health" would mean you would do everything possible to avoid putting your child in harm's way for illness as well as taking care of other people's children who may be harmed by the presence of children who are not immunized.
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 02-19-2020 01:49 PM
From: Yuliya Kikirov
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
We too are a Jewish school and of course value life as well. We DO accept exemptions. It is a Torah commandment to guard one's health (Berachot 32b). Guarding one's health means not doing anything to harm one's-self. Therefore one who believes vaccines are harmful has a 100% valid reason to use a religious exemption form according to Torah and Judaism. Just presenting a different point of view.
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Yuliya Kikirov
Teacher
Torah Day School of Phoenix
Phoenix AZ
Original Message:
Sent: 02-18-2020 07:37 AM
From: Sheri Brown
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
Protecting life is a Jewish value, so as a Jewish school with Jewish values, we do not accept religious exemptions.
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Sheri Brown
Director
Tikvat Israel ECC
Rockville MD
Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2020 11:22 AM
From: Angela Perdue
Subject: Immunization Requirements for Faith-Based Preschools
Does your program accept children without immunizations? I have had several requests for exemption from Immunization requirements, requesting a religious exemption. I was wondering how other faith-based preschools handle this.
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Angela Perdue
Director
Preschool at Hillsdale Church
Advance NC
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