Being Requested to Get Whooping Cough Vaccine to Hold Infant

[Magpie]

The number of people entering this country with no previous access to healthcare suggests it. I'm in the trenches on this. I see it every day. Our city is a Catholic Social Services refugee center. Kids who have never seen a stethoscope or a syringe before they were . Never been to school. Never owned a pair of shoes. A LOT of them, and they are being distributed all over the country. These kids are unvaccinated, trust me, and they may or may not seek out follow up medical care to become fully vaccinated where they land. And those are the ones here legally. The illegal immigrants in the same situation have even less access. Yes, its difficult to gather concrete data on a mobile, poorly documented population that is here illegally and so wants to remain poorly documented, but to claim that hey don't exist is shortsighted. What I originally said still stands. This is just as much a problem with people coming into this country as it is with people already here choosing not to vaccinate.

Actually, despite vaccinations not being legally required for refugees, it seems there's a good chance many of your kids have been vaccinated, if they are legal refugees. Especially if they've resided in refugee camps, where the Pertussis vaccine is routinely given.

• First vaccine doses are given at the overseas medical screening exam, approximately 3-6 months before departure for most refugees.
• Second vaccine doses are typically given 1-2 months after the first dose.
• Refugees who undergo repeated medical examinations overseas may receive additional vaccine doses.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefuge...as/interventions/immunizations-schedules.html

I'm not arguing, by the way, that undocumented immigrants don't exist. Only that it is highly unlikely they are a significant vector for disease.

And also, thank you very much for the work you do!

 

[Magpie]

I know for 100% certain, this is not true. Many kids come to the US with NO documentation of ANY kind, not even a birth certificate much less health records. If they urgently need to get out of where they are, they come. Period.

This much is true, however:

"A spokesman for the HHS Administration for Children and Families told NBC Newsin 2014 that "when children come into the Department of Health and Human Services program, they are given a well-child exam and given all needed childhood vaccinations to protect against communicable diseases. They are also screened for tuberculosis, and receive a mental health exam. If children are determined to have any communicable disease or have been exposed to a communicable disease, they are placed in a program or facility that has the capacity to quarantine."

 

[eeyoreandtink]

This much is true, however:

"A spokesman for the HHS Administration for Children and Families told NBC Newsin 2014 that "when children come into the Department of Health and Human Services program, they are given a well-child exam and given all needed childhood vaccinations to protect against communicable diseases. They are also screened for tuberculosis, and receive a mental health exam. If children are determined to have any communicable disease or have been exposed to a communicable disease, they are placed in a program or facility that has the capacity to quarantine."

IF they go though HHS. Not all of them do, and of the ones that do, many do not get the follow up boosters as necessary.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Actually, despite vaccinations not being legally required for refugees, it seems there's a good chance many of your kids have been vaccinated, if they are legal refugees. Especially if they've resided in refugee camps, where the Pertussis vaccine is routinely given.

• First vaccine doses are given at the overseas medical screening exam, approximately 3-6 months before departure for most refugees.
• Second vaccine doses are typically given 1-2 months after the first dose.
• Refugees who undergo repeated medical examinations overseas may receive additional vaccine doses.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefuge...as/interventions/immunizations-schedules.html

I'm not arguing, by the way, that undocumented immigrants don't exist. Only that it is highly unlikely they are a significant vector for disease.

And also, thank you very much for the work you do!

This is IF they have not been fast tracked here, and doesn't apply to the HUGE number of unaccompanied children crossing the border from Mexico, who also don't all go through HHS.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I know for 100% certain, this is not true. Many kids come to the US with NO documentation of ANY kind, not even a birth certificate much less health records. If they urgently need to get out of where they are, they come. Period.

So you're saying that at no point during the refugee process, they vaccinate those kids? Because I doubt it. Most if not all refugees DON'T come straight to the US instantaneously- the UN screening can take months. And even those that are exempt from the UN screening still get screened as part of the application process. Health check is one section. Which presumably includes a stethoscope at very least.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.go...screening-process-refugee-entry-united-states

And as someone else mentioned- kids in poor villages get mandatory vaccinations by visiting health professionals. It's something that anti-vaxxers protest against.

 

[Westcoastwild]

This is IF they have not been fast tracked here, and doesn't apply to the HUGE number of unaccompanied children crossing the border from Mexico, who also don't all go through HHS.

But in that case, those kids are put into foster care or relative care and enter the school system. To attend school, you need vaccinations. So they catch them that way.

Although I'd like to see the numbers there if you have them. Mexican illegal immigration has reportedly dropped because Mexican economy has improved and even before that I really didn't hear reports of Mexicans sending their kids across the border by themselves. To relatives, sure, but not in significant numbers.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

But in that case, those kids are put into foster care or relative care and enter the school system. To attend school, you need vaccinations. So they catch them that way.

Although I'd like to see the numbers there if you have them. Mexican illegal immigration has reportedly dropped because Mexican economy has improved and even before that I really didn't hear reports of Mexicans sending their kids across the border by themselves. To relatives, sure, but not in significant numbers.

No, we have to take them in school, regardless of their vaccine status. MANY have nto health records at all. We can try to get the parents to take them when they have parents, but they typically don't because they are illegal themselves or are frightened of any authority figure becuase of what they have been through in their home country.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

So you're saying that at no point during the refugee process, they vaccinate those kids? Because I doubt it. Most if not all refugees DON'T come straight to the US instantaneously- the UN screening can take months. And even those that are exempt from the UN screening still get screened as part of the application process. Health check is one section. Which presumably includes a stethoscope at very least.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.go...screening-process-refugee-entry-united-states

And as someone else mentioned- kids in poor villages get mandatory vaccinations by visiting health professionals. It's something that anti-vaxxers protest against.

I think I'm using a broader definition of refugee than you are. Not all of them are UN refugees and subject to that process at all. All I can tell you is what I see, and that is kids being enrolled in school with zero vaccination records, a lot of them.

 

[Magpie]

This is IF they have not been fast tracked here, and doesn't apply to the HUGE number of unaccompanied children crossing the border from Mexico, who also don't all go through HHS.

Border agents apprehended 20,455 unaccompanied minors, under the age of 18, in 2016. (https://www.cbp.gov/site-page/southwest-border-unaccompanied-alien-children-statistics-fy-2016) It's a large number, and definitely an increase from the previous year, but not what I'd call "huge" considering the US population is 321.4 million (and Mexico's is 127 million). We don't have roving gangs of homeless ten year olds along the border. What we have instead are teenagers, looking for work and opportunity, many of whom are likely to have been immunized in Mexico.

Obviously they can't catch them all. But, again, there's no reason to suspect that even the ones they miss are a significant vector for disease.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Border agents apprehended 20,455 unaccompanied minors, under the age of 18, in 2016. (https://www.cbp.gov/site-page/southwest-border-unaccompanied-alien-children-statistics-fy-2016) It's a large number, and definitely an increase from the previous year, but not what I'd call "huge" considering the US population is 321.4 million (and Mexico's is 127 million). We don't have roving gangs of homeless ten year olds along the border. What we have instead are teenagers, looking for work and opportunity, many of whom are likely to have been immunized in Mexico.

Obviously they can't catch them all. But, again, there's no reason to suspect that even the ones they miss are a significant vector for disease.

there are many, many more unapprehended that just show up, sometimes hundreds of miles from the border before the authorities get involved. Most of the ones we have were never in the custody of HHS. When private organizations like churches get involved, that process often goes out the window.

 

[Magpie]

there are many, many more unapprehended that just show up, sometimes hundreds of miles from the border before the authorities get involved. Most of the ones we have were never in the custody of HHS. When private organizations like churches get involved, that process often goes out the window.

To get back to the original point, I think we can agree that...

1. The Minnesota Somali-American community currently suffering a measles outbreak are neither undocumented nor illegal. Rather, they are the unfortunate victims of a successful anti-vax campaign. (http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...now-the-state-faces-historic-measles-outbreak)

2. Not a single outbreak in modern US history has ever been traced to an immigrant, legal or otherwise.

Edited to add: On the other hand, American travelers returning from abroad have been frequently implicated in measles outbreaks by the CDC.

 

[Aliceacc]

Just one question, based on the OP:

What does the child's dad have to say about all this?? The mom posted it on Facebook, her mother in law took offense.

Is the baby's dad taking the same stand? Is he willing to stand up to his parents over the issue of his child's health? Why does it read as though this is a woman against her mother in law, as opposed to two parents trying to keep their child healthy? Why does she seem to be fighting this battle alone?

Here's my stand: We, as parents, are frequently the only advocates our kids have. It's my primary job to advocate for my kids until they're old enough to do so themselves.

So while I was pretty easy going on most of those first-time-parent fears, I have absolute respect for those who take a polite stand in order to protect their kids in a reasonable way from reasonable dangers.

I think that asking people to be vaccinated against whooping cough before they hold your child is reasonable. They can comply, or they can watch the child from a distance.

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

It is so much easier to be xenophobic and blame it on "the others" than to analyze the data on where the outbreaks are occurring (and then dismissing the data without offering anything beyond self-serving anecdotes in exchange is even easier) but I find it so sad that this kind of fake news is allowed to persist on sites like this.