Vaccine Exemption Law Expands
In the continuing battle over freedom of health
choices, Texas has become the 19th state to allow philosophical objections
to vaccinations. As reported in the July 28, 2003 American Medical News,
the new Texas law broadens the state's school vaccine exemption categories
and, as the article put it, "has caused alarms to sound among state
physicians with reverberations reaching physicians nationwide."
Last month Texas became the 19th US state to
allow parents to seek exemptions from state vaccination requirements for
school based solely on philosophic rather than
religious or medical reasons.
Dawn Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine
Education, or PROVE noted in the article that, "Some
children might be predisposed to reactions, or families might feel a
certain vaccine isn't necessary for their child." She went on to say,
"Each vaccine is different and each child is different. We are opposed to
one-size-fits-all vaccinations."
PROVE is a group of about 3,500 Texas families who
have worked for several years to broaden the Texas exemption law. The
group supports the addition of a philosophic exemption as does the
National Vaccine Information Center, a parent-led advocacy group founded
by parents of children injured by vaccines.
Richardson's reasons for starting PROVE started in
1997 when she encountered difficulties in finding a physician who would
address her concerns about vaccinations for her own children. "Some
families are frustrated with the medical community for not being in more
of a partnership position in discussing this issue intelligently with
families."
The AMA News article noted that all states allow for
medical exemptions for children who have a compromised immune system, are
allergic to vaccine components or have another condition that makes it
medically unwise for them to receive a vaccine. Additionally, forty-eight
states allow for religious exemptions, which are generally tightly focused
on organized religions with a tenet of beliefs. The philosophical or
conscientious exemption laws of 19 states have fewer strings, although
most require that parents obtain notarized documentation of their
objections to a vaccine. According to the article "the AMA would like to
see an end to both religious and philosophic exemptions."
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