Immunization, the measles outbreak, and attendance policy

[CalicoPenn]

It is not just measles folks should be worried about - while it's certainly possible someone might bring the measles into a troop meeting, its more likely someone will bring the flu into a troop meeting, and this year it seems to be particularly nasty and thye current flu shot isn't fully effective.

 

A Scout is Trustworthy - seems to me the unit can send out an e-mail blast letting Scouts and parents know that they should not come to meetings if they are ill - and trust the Scouts to follow that advice. If a Scout attended a meeting and then is discovered to have the measles, I think it would be incumbent upon the leaders to send an e-mail blast letting them know that one of the (not to be named) Scouts came down with the measles after attending a meeting/outing and you're suggesting that the families take appropriate precautions.

 

There is a story out of California of a parent with a child in remission from Leukemia who is asking his school district to ban unvaccinated children from attending the school to protect his child from potentially catching what would likely be a fatal disease for his child. The school district is going to "monitor" the situation. The parents who have not vaccinated their children are upset at the suggestion and think he should be the one to keep his child home. What's noteworthy here is the irony that the parent has brought up. Student's at his child's school are banned from bringing peanuts or peanut butter sandwiches to school so as not to make students with peanut allergies sick and no one is suggesting that the students with peanut allergies just stay home instead.

 

As for Dr. Wolfson - he said as far as he's concerned, that child probably got leukemia from vaccinations. Leukemia was identified in 1845 before there were vaccinations. And people are really going to take him seriously?

[packsaddle]

That the Drs. Wolfson claim to be 'doctors' is grotesque. But look at the Wolfson facebook page...a LOT of people take him seriously.

[Stosh]

How easily could a pandemic work? Ever hear of H1N1? Sure, it's in the news all the time as well as vaccinations for various mutations of it. By the way, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 that killed 20-100 million, was a variation of H1N1. 3-5% of the world's population died. I never think twice about getting vaccinated.

 

But don't worry about the H1N1 virus we haven't had an outbreak of it since 2009 (Swine Flu)

 

Someday people may take this stuff seriously. Until then get your shots.

 

Stosh

[scoutldr]

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do. I am a public health professional and my wife is an elementary school nurse. Parents today are so narcissistic that they put your kids at risk daily. They will take their kid who has been vomiting all night and has a 103 fever, dose them up with Tylenol and put them on the school bus, hoping against hope that they will make it through the day. Sometimes they don't even make it to class...they get off the bus and go straight to the clinic. Sometimes the parents don't even work...they just don't want to be bothered with them staying home. It's infuriating. She had one just this past Friday...when the tylenol wore off and the kid showed up in the clinic, the mom was called and her only concern was "well at least she got to participate in the party, right?" She did check, and of a student population of a little over 700, she has 7 who have "religious exemptions" to immunizations. There are always a few others who are exempt because of other medical conditions, such as HIV, or chemotherapy. In this state, all the parent needs to do is fill out a form and sign it to get the exemption. I'm betting if you asked the kid what "religion" they are or what church they go to, they wouldn't have a clue. Due to inclusion laws, there are kids in schools intermingling with the others who have HIV, or aren't immunized, or other conditions. Due to HIPAA laws, only the nurse knows...if the school has a nurse (not all schools do). She is not allowed to tell anyone else, and in the case of HIV, the parents are not required to disclose it. Bottom line is, if the parents don't inform the scout unit of an illness, you're not going to know. Unless the local public health authorities advise to "avoid public gatherings", there's not much you can do. I did hear that in the western states experiencing the measles outbreak, non immunized kids who are exposed are then banned from school for 3 weeks, religious exemption or not. That's a smart move, since you can be contagious up to 4 days before symptoms are evident.

[Stosh]

While protecting the one, we endanger the rest. That makes sense in today's PC world. Not the real world, just the PC world.

 

Stosh

 

[packsaddle]

Scoutldr, that wasn't exactly the uplifting message I like to hear but I tend to agree with you. I've heard similar things from my teacher friends. I don't know how they manage to keep doing what they do.