Is it possible to get out of getting my dtr the flu shot?

[disney1990]

I can see the necessity in getting a flu shot.

Upwards of 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu related illnesses every single year. Unless a person has a religious reason or is allergic to components of the flu shot, I understand requiring flu shots.

 

[mhsjax]

I can see the necessity in getting a flu shot.

Upwards of 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu related illnesses every single year. Unless a person has a religious reason or is allergic to components of the flu shot, I understand requiring flu shots.

Yes but how many of those people are elderly, or compromised in some other way. Most healthy young people can fight off the flu.

 

[TDC Nala]

She doesn't want to give her daughter the shot. That is a good enough reason.

Not in New Jersey.

Her options at this point are apparently to state she has religious objections, or get a doctor to sign something that says the kid shouldn't have the shot. And maybe look into getting the law changed. From what has been posted here of the state regulations, it is very clear that the parent objecting to the shot because something might happen is not an acceptable opt-out.

 

[robinb]

Yes but how many of those people are elderly, or compromised in some other way. Most healthy young people can fight off the flu.

Children 4 and under (aka preschoolers) are the 2nd most hospitalized age group.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Well, I did a little googling and it seems in New Jersey, it is the law, which personally, I find outrageous.

I'd opt out on religious grounds, even if that isn't true.

So now the NJ government gets to decide what goes in your children's body, not you, the parent.

I agree.

 

[mhsjax]

Children 4 and under (aka preschoolers) are the 2nd most hospitalized age group.

I read that they were in the same group as the 50-65 year olds. Also how many of those were already compromised. Premature, asthma, that type of thing. I didn't see that specific number. Funny how I managed to get 3 out of pre school without so much as a bad cold.

 

[badblackpug]

It is not "required by law." It is required if you want to send your child to preschool, which, in and of itself, is not required. Logical thinking says, if your child is required to have a flu shot to attend preschool, and you are opposed to the flu shot, don't send your child to preschool. No one is forcing the OP to get her child vaccinated, what is being said is that if she wants her child to participate in this activity she has tonmeet certain criteria, and one of them is getting the flu shot. If the OP is truly that morally opposed to the shot, just take her child out of preschool. Preschool, like the flu shot, is recommended, not required. No one is taking away her right to decide medical care for her child.

An older sibling having a reaction to a medicine is not a valid medical excuse. (And I will mention that a fever that wasn't even reported to the doctor is not a severe reaction) My mother has an anaphylactic response to a common antibiotics that I, and my siblings, have all taken without side effects. My brother has an allergic reaction to a medication that I, and my sister, have taken multiple times. A sibling having a reaction has no bearing on the patient.

...and I am shocked at the Dis telling the OP to lie and break the rules. This is the same group of people who scream people down for saying their 3 year old is 2, for using mugs from previous years, for pool hopping, or taking cookies off a buffet. It is not for the OP, to decide what rules she thinks are right and should, therefore, follow.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

FYI: In many states, the regulations for child care centers and preschools are NOT written by lawmakers. In many places they are written by child development experts, medical personnel and people in the field.

No one is trying to run a conspiracy to take over your kids. They are trying to do what is best for the children of their state as a whole.[/QUOTE]

Well since they don't know me or my children personally they have no idea what is best for us. NCLB was supposed to help every child and well, we see where that failed. They have no idea what every child really needs. Let the parents make the decisions for their children just like adults get to make their own healthcare decisions. The parents are the legal guardians. Not the government.

 

[luvsJack]

NO Florida does not. Just because a poster said it, doesn't make it true.

OH and they tried changing them. But you said that it was Govt based, that is what I was pointing out.

I didn't mean to insinuate that someone saying it makes it true, I just commented that they did say it and I assumed that perhaps they knew what they were talking about.

I don't have a clue which states require something and which ones do not; way too much searching involved for me to find that.

I know that it is not required here at this time but it is strongly recommended that individual centers and preschools put it in their policies which is "regulation code" for: It will soon be a regulation.

My dgd's preschool requires it for their school. Dil and DS asked me and I told them to get it.





I think all of this "conspiracy theory" about the government trying to take over our kids is ridiculous. Sorry, but I just don't think that the writers of these regulations want to raise our kids, they have enough to do without worrying about our little snowflakes. They ARE concerned with the health and well being of all of the kids in childcare facilities. If you don't want to abide by the regulations then maybe your child would be best kept at home.

 

[badblackpug]

FYI: In many states, the regulations for child care centers and preschools are NOT written by lawmakers. In many places they are written by child development experts, medical personnel and people in the field.

No one is trying to run a conspiracy to take over your kids. They are trying to do what is best for the children of their state as a whole.[/QUOTE]

Well since they don't know me or my children personally they have no idea what is best for us. NCLB was supposed to help every child and well, we see where that failed. They have no idea what every child really needs. Let the parents make the decisions for their children just like adults get to make their own healthcare decisions. The parents are the legal guardians. Not the government.

They certainly are letting the OP make her own healthcare decisions. She is more than free to forgo the flu shot, she just cannot send her child to preschool, which is an optional activity.

It's as easy as that. Ir she is opposed to having her daughter receive the vaccine she is within her rights to do so. No one is forcing her. No one is going to arrest hernor take away her kids. She just can't send her to preschool.

 

[mickeyfan9194]

I guess I would much rather my child get the flu shot than to suffer the symptoms of the flu, or to pass it on to someone else that may have a weakened immune system. If this particular child hasn't has a reaction to it before, why would you think she might?

My children rarely get colds and have never had the flu, but why take chances if it can be prevented?

 

[Janepod]

They certainly are letting the OP make her own healthcare decisions. She is more than free to forgo the flu shot, she just cannot send her child to preschool, which is an optional activity.

It's as easy as that. Ir she is opposed to having her daughter receive the vaccine she is within her rights to do so. No one is forcing her. No one is going to arrest hernor take away her kids. She just can't send her to preschool.

Yes, it really is that straightforward. Either get the shot, lie about a religious exemption (note: I'm not recommending this, just pointing out it's an option), or take your kid out of preschool (so, send to daycare or homeschool.) Or I suppose you could move out of New Jersey. But the law is the law. No one's going to show up on your doorstep with a full syringe.

 

[Lynne M]

A couple of thoughts on reactions, and why governments require vaccines.....

A fever that's low enough to not require medical intervention isn't a "bad reaction", it's a normal reaction to the body sensing the presence of a foreign organism. Lots of people think a fever is this bad thing that a germ causes, that it's part of the illness. It's not.

Some disease-causing organisms can only function well in a very narrow temperature range. Raise the body's temperature, and the bug can't do it's thing. Our immune systems have evolved to take advantage of this. When the body's being invaded, the body raises its own temperature, as one of many disease-fighting mechanisms.

Vaccines work by tricking the immune system into thinking that there's an infection going on, so that it will produce antibodies to that infectious organism. That's why you'll sometimes get a touch of fever after a vaccine. It's not something bad that the vaccine is doing to you, it's your own body reacting to a possible infection, just like it's supposed to.

Yes, sometimes things go haywire, and fevers go so high that they can actually be harmful to the body. But the usual low-grade, short-lived fevers you get after a vaccine aren't dangerous by themselves, they're just a sign that your immune system is doing it's thing.

As for why governments require vaccines....yes, some of it is to protect the person getting the vaccine. But it's also to protect the entire community. There's this concept in epidemiology called "herd immunity". I'm oversimplifying here, but if enough people in a community are immune to an infectious illness, either naturally or through vaccination, epidemics can't get a foothold in that community because there aren't enough hosts for the organism to reproduce in. Think about it....if most of the people that you come into contact with are immune to this year's flu strains, your chances of catching the flu are much reduced.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

OP here again....The more I think about the more I truely feel that giving my daughter the flu shot is not the right choice for my family. I am her parent and ultimately feel qualified to make an informed decision. I ofcourse have all of her immunizations up to date, its really the flu shot that is bothering me. Looking at statistics, it just doesn't make sense why this is a law for only preschool kids and only in NJ. How many kids who are healthy die from the flu? I assume that number is very low. I am beginning to think this is all about money....it is NJ!

At this point, I am seriously thinking about religious exempt. They leave me no other choice. Yes, I can take her out of school, but that seems ridiculous. Oh by the way she is 4 and I am planning to put her back in this school again next year, she is staying back another year. So, she will be 5, in the same preschool, and if I read correctly, no longer needs the flu vaccine! That makes no sense to me!

So you are going to lie about having a religious objection rather than follow the law, thereby compromising the collective health of the community? You can equivocate any way you want and torture logic to create a case for how it is suddenly against your religious principles, but if that was actually the case you wouldn't have needed to ask the question or have been looking for other strategies around a law that you don't want to follow. They are giving you a choice: get immunized or pull your daughter out of preschool! Your belief that the choice is not a good one does not negate the fact that it is a choice.

By the way, I am fundamentally fine with civil disobedience or even breaking laws when I feel they violate basic human rights or are unethical. For example, I would never serve in the military, as I am a pacifist, so I would refuse to be drafted if a draft was ever instituted, but I wouldn't lie about it and I would accept the consequences of that decision. Be an adult and own your choice and its consequences instead of asking a bunch of people on the Internet to tell you that it's OK to lie to break the law because you don't want to follow it.

 

[DizBelle]

I can see the necessity in getting a flu shot.

Upwards of 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu related illnesses every single year. Unless a person has a religious reason or is allergic to components of the flu shot, I understand requiring flu shots.

Yes but how many of those people are elderly, or compromised in some other way. Most healthy young people can fight off the flu.

How many of those people got the flu from someone that would not have gotten it had they or the people they come in contact with been vaccinated?

Example - what if your child doesn't get the vaccine and gets the flu, then gives it to someone else, who then gives it to someone with a compromised immune system and ends up hospitalized and dies. If your child had gotten the vaccine, that person would have never died. Your child got over the flu and is fine. The person they gave it to got over it and is fine. That that person (or people) down the line did not and lost their life.

This is NOT a far-fetched scenario and I'm sure it's happened before. There are not just and individual effects. There are also community effects.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

So according to some-
If your religion doesn't believe in vaccines it is okay but if you personally don't believe in certain or all vaccines it's not?

Okay OP- New religion- We can call ourselves "Church of the Non Fluers" Voila! Religious exemption!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

How many of those people got the flu from someone that would not have gotten it had they or the people they come in contact with been vaccinated?

Example - what if your child doesn't get the vaccine and gets the flu, then gives it to someone else, who then gives it to someone with a compromised immune system and ends up hospitalized and dies. If your child had gotten the vaccine, that person would have never died. Your child got over the flu and is fine. The person they gave it to got over it and is fine. That that person (or people) down the line did not and lost their life.

This is NOT a far-fetched scenario and I'm sure it's happened before. There are not just and individual effects. There are also community effects.

I bolded. The flu vaccine is a guess. It has been wrong many times. The scenario you posted could still happen even with the vaccine.

 

[SaraJayne]

How many of those people got the flu from someone that would not have gotten it had they or the people they come in contact with been vaccinated?

Example - what if your child doesn't get the vaccine and gets the flu, then gives it to someone else, who then gives it to someone with a compromised immune system and ends up hospitalized and dies. If your child had gotten the vaccine, that person would have never died. Your child got over the flu and is fine. The person they gave it to got over it and is fine. That that person (or people) down the line did not and lost their life.

This is NOT a far-fetched scenario and I'm sure it's happened before. There are not just and individual effects. There are also community effects.

Even if you get the flu vaccine, you can still get the flu. All depends on which strain they guessed would be prevalent the next year.

 

[RitaE]

So according to some-
If your religion doesn't believe in vaccines it is okay but if you personally don't believe in certain or all vaccines it's not?

Okay OP- New religion- We can call ourselves "Church of the Non Fluers" Voila! Religious exemption!

And then if you claim your home as a house of worship, maybe you can get out of paying some taxes too.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

And then if you claim your home as a house of worship, maybe you can get out of paying some taxes too.

Hmmmm...now you are talking! lololol!