One Sixteenth

Texas passes philosophical exemption for vaccinations

On the Fourth, a lady we had never met struck up a conversation with us. She was a former public school teacher, and is currently some sort of educational diagnostician. She started the conversation by telling us how upset she is that Texas has passed a new vaccine exemption law. She seemed to feel that this was going to result in parents denying vaccinations in droves. She prophesied a return of measles and polio. She spoke of this exemption as a law that makes it "no longer a requirement" for public school.

She's operating under several misconceptions here. Let's look at what this exemption does, and does not do, and what the passage of it really means.

All public school students are required to have a set schedule of vaccines before they can be enrolled in school. All states have a medical exemption for these vaccines; if your child has a medical reason why getting the vaccine would be dangerous, your doctor can sign a medical exemption for you. Your child can then attend public school without the required shots.

The vast majority of states have religious exemptions as well, though these are often difficult to get. Claiming a religious exemption usually means you have to abstain from all vaccines as part of your religious beliefs. Parents who claim a religious exemption must show some kind of documented evidence of this religious belief, which often leads to officials grilling parents on their religion.

Less than 20 states offer parents a philosophical or conscientious exemption to childhood vaccines. This exemption allows parents to make a statement that giving their child the recommended vaccines conflicts with their philosophy. In Texas, the exemption is worded such that arents may object to all vaccines, or some.

The first important point to realize here is that this law will not change the requirements for public school entry. Upon entering school, children will still be required to have the all the currently required vaccines, and to show proof of vaccination. That will not change. What will change is that parents who have concerns about vaccines will now have an option that allows them to exercise their right to manage their children's health as they see fit, while still being able to have their children attend public school.

In order for a parent to utilize the new exemption, the parent will have to write to the Department of Human Services to request the appropriate form. Once the form is filled out, it must be notarized; then it can be entered into the student's school records. This is not something that is going to be used by parents who don't vaccinate because they are poor/uneducated/don't know/don't care/want to take the easy or cheap way out. This is going to be used by parents who have done their research and have decided that the best interests of their children lie in a different direction than that mandated by the state.

Ironically, this exemption will help some parents get more vaccines for their children. A state with only religious and medical exemptions locks its citizens into an all-or-nothing approach. This philosophical/conscientious exemption will allow parents the freedom to choose some vaccines, while declining others.

Will we have a return to widespread measles and polio? Highly unlikely. The only cases of polio in the area come from the vaccine. And other states (including all the state that border Texas) have had this exemption in place for years, without drastic increases in disease incidence.

I have always found it interesting that Texas, which traditionally places such a high premium on individual rights, did not have a philosophical/conscientious exemption. I am glad to see that such an exemption has finally passed. My children are not fully vaccinated, by choice; of course, mine aren't in the public school system so that is not an issue for us.

What I am really happy about is that this same bill included a clause that prevents health and human services agengies from taking punitive action against parents who choose to not vaccinate their children. Parents and children should not be harrassed on this issue. The state has no right to usurp a parent's ability to make choices about health care for their children.

Speaking of that, one of the things this lady said to us was that "... now parents don't have to get any vaccines for their children. Except, of course, for the ones the babies automatically get."

So I helpfully informed her that all vaccines are choices, and that even the ones for infants can be declined. She was absolutely shocked. She had no idea. She was appalled. Yes, it's true, folks. The government does not actually mandate the shots you get for your child. Or any other medical care. It's up to you. You can decline ANY of it. YOU are in charge.

She left our conversation pretty quickly. My evil side thinks it's kind of a shame she left before we had even gotten to the topic of homeschooling ;-)

Posted by Steph at July 8, 2003 08:11 PM