Many states within our nation are doing what they can in
order to encourage positive and healthy learning environments for today’s
children. Children ranging from preschoolers to college students are required
by law to meet specific vaccine requirements to enforce this achievable goal of
establishing an educational environment, free of preventable diseases.
It’s inevitable that children in schools will carry and be
susceptible to the common cold as well as other common germs that can be
prevented through regular hand-washing, but vaccines help prevent the spread of
those less common germs that cause more serious symptoms and outcomes.
The commonwealth of Virginia is no exception to this effort.
According
to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), “Children vaccinated
in accordance with either the current harmonized schedule or the
harmonized catch-up schedules (including meeting all minimum age and interval
requirements) are considered to be appropriately immunized for school
attendance.” In order to be granted admission to a day care facility or school
in Virginia, public or private, all students must meet the minimum
immunizations requirements, which include; Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis
(DTaP, DTP, or TDaP), Haemophilus Influenza Type b (Hib) Vaccine, Hepatitus B
Vaccine, Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV)*, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
Vaccine, Pneumococcal (PCV) Vaccine, and Polio Vaccine.
Time specific-related requirements included:
All: Hepatitus B Vaccine
Children up to 60 months of age: Hib Vaccine and PCV
When entering kindergarten: First doses of TDaP and Polio Vaccines,
second dose of MMR
When entering 6th grade: TDaP booster and HPV*
*Parents can opt out their child from receiving the HPV
vaccine after reading board-approved materials regarding HPV.
Here is a helpful video regarding the TDaP
booster required of rising 6th graders in Fairfax County Public
Schools (FCPS) in Virginia.
In order to document students’ vaccinations systematically,
the VDH has an established School Entrance Health Form that is
kept on file and is updated as needed for each student. Because Virginia
schools require students to meet these minimum immunization requirements, and
allow for very specific exemptions including religious exemptions, they have
the ability, by law, to exclude children from school. According to state
legislation, § 22.1-271.2. Immunizationrequirements., Section B it states, “Any student admitted conditionally and who
fails to comply with his schedule for completion of the required immunizations
shall be excluded from school until his immunizations are resumed.”
The Fairfax County Health Department is one of the many
county departments that support and enforce the minimum immunization
requirements in the commonwealth of Virginia. One of the ways that they are
able to help members in their county to meet this requirement is by offering
five clinic sites where it’s members can receive required school
vaccinations free of charge.
Fairfax County Public Schools as well as other schools in
the commonwealth of Virginia are doing their part in contributing to creating
and enforcing an optimal learning environment for students and teachers alike.
As a mother, I feel a sense of ease knowing that my children attend a school that has these requirements in place. These requirements that avert
the spread of preventable diseases ultimately help to provide a positive and
healthy learning environment.
Would you send your child to a school that didn’t have
similar requirements in place?
References
VDH School Requirements. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epidemiology/Immunization/requirements.htm
Your post on Dr. Offit made me want to read the rest of your posts. This one was interesting as well (great work).
ReplyDeleteVaccination is one of those things that has some personal benefit, but the largest benefit is to society as a whole. If there's a significant portion of the population that chooses to forgo a specific vaccine, the entire population is at risk. This is especially true for viruses which may not look exactly like the vaccine to our immune systems, and so we may end up with partial immunity on the individual level.
When it's someone else's children, it's easy to dismiss the low rate of adverse effects associated with a vaccination. When the matter at hand is for your own children that small possibility can be daunting. It's a good time to understand that we all take risks on the individual level with the assumption and hope that others are doing the same for us.
Hey Lea,
ReplyDeleteNice writing and good information on the local requirements. I think its great that some schools have vaccination requirements. I would probably send me child to a school with no requirements but may kid would have all of his vaccinations.
Lea,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you emphasized the importance of vaccinations in the school systems. I think that this is extremely important and that without it, we would be experiencing a lot of problems. I would not send my child to a school without these requirements, even if my child did have all of the vaccinations. I feel that it would be in every schools best interest if they all adopted this policy of having to have all of those vaccinations done. Another thing I really liked about this blog post was that it was primarily focused on local requirements because it directly affects the people living around in this area.
Lea,
ReplyDeleteI love how you clearly stated all of the vaccines needed for a student to enter school. My answer to your question is heck no!! I would never send my child (future child for that matter) to a school that did not have those requirements set for other students. I am a strong believer that every child should get their vaccines administered to them because it prevents so many diseases that can easily become fatal to such little children. This is a very informative blog and I really enjoyed reading it.
Lea,
ReplyDeleteI thought the way you incorporated school requirements as your main political issue was a good angle to this topic. Requiring children to receive vaccines for major illnesses is a good thing as it prevents the spread of dangerous diseases. I do think it is important to let common colds and minor illnesses run their course. I see so many issues today that were not present when I was a kid (I am 36, almost 37) that it makes you really look at the things people do when they get a minor cold anymore. To this day, I almost never get sick, and I attribute it to the fact that my Mom didn’t run me to the doctor every time my nose ran or I had a sniffle. And don’t get me started on things like hand sanitizers… haha.
Hi Lea,
ReplyDeleteI am following your posts from the beginning because I am persuaded by your topic. I agree with you vaccination is very important; without it children or we cant go to school. Let me share with you some news i read recently that 98 million Americans were given polio vaccine contaminated with cancer causing virus, admit CDC. And in my native country, a lot of babies die because of the contaminated vaccine or they had been injected with a wrong kind of vaccine. It is heart breaking. However, without the vaccine, there are unnecessarily deaths if the child are not vaccinate.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteSince this is your last required post, I would just like to commend you for your work. I have really enjoyed keeping up with your blog. It really talked about the relevance and significance of vaccines through out each post. I would not send my child to a school that did not have similar requirements. Schools already have the germ possibility to ruin a young childs' immune system. Now imagine if none of these kids were vaccinated, I would have to be dealing with infinite amounts of trips to the doctor and pharmacy. I also think that if kids are required to get vaccines from the beginning that they will understand that vaccines are good and do not harm their health. They will get used to the idea of vaccines and will be less likely to have wrong ideas about vaccines.
Hi Lea,
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your article because I understand being a mother of two kids I am always on the top of their vaccinations and heath concerns. The school health entrance forms are necessary key things for keeping the information up to date both in the school system and for us as parents as well. Vaccination does help in lowering the chances of spreading the health problems and coping with the infections. I think some of people’s main concern is the relating the vaccination to autism but then again we do not have a sound evidence to relate the two. Moreover, autism has also been linked to pesticides. In the long run, we need to think about the pros and cons related to it and think accordingly. In my thinking, there are more pros related to vaccinations than cons.
Thanks for a great post.