This should go over well: BSA now mandating vaccinations starting 6/1/2022. No religious exemptions, only medical.

[CynicalScouter]

Immunizations

(Effective 6/1/2022) The BSA encourages all members of the Scouting community to utilize available vaccines that can provide protection in preventing infectious diseases.

 

Based on the recommendations of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), it is the national policy of the BSA that all participants attending events, activities, programs, or camps requiring an Annual Health and Medical Record (AHMR) must be up to date on all the immunizations listed as required below:

 

REQUIRED for everyone:

 

• Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (DTaP or Tdap)
• Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) (if born in 1957 or later)
• Varicella (VAR) (chicken pox) (if born in 1980 or later)
• Polio (IPV)

 

Although not required, the following immunizations are strongly recommended by both the BSA and the CDC. Please review your age-appropriate immunization status with your personal health care provider:

 

• COVID-19
• Hepatitis A (HepA)
• Hepatitis B (HepB)
• Pneumonia (Pneumococcus): PVC13 or PPSV23)
• Influenza (annually)
• Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB)
• Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
• Meningococcus Conjugate (MenACWY)
• Meningococcus Type B (MenB)
• Shingles — Zoster recombinant (RZV)

 

As new vaccines become available these requirements and recommendations may be modified.

 

Exemptions to this immunization policy will be accepted for medical reasons as determined for each individual (e.g., those with congenital conditions, compromised immune systems, or taking certain medications). Scouts and Scouters who have been exempted from required vaccinations MUST have this documented by their personal health care provider.

https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss05

Edited October 6, 2021 by CynicalScouter

[skeptic]

Not really surprising since if they do not require at least that already part of school admission, they again may be open to overzealous legal issues fro my less than favorite legal birds.  Tetnus is already a must, and so it should be for a camp setting.  Not sure about shingles, as that is primarily adult level and connected to chicken pox.  On the other hand, I can assure you it is not fun to have.  One of the worst couple weeks of my later adult life.  Had it before teh VA offered the injection, but they gave me one anyway, as it can come back in rare instances.  

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by skeptic

[5thGenTexan]

I had MMR and Polio vaccine sometime during my life, but I am 46 and I am not sure how to "prove" it.  I did get TDaP last year, but I am not gonna get the other two again just to go to anything over 72 hours.

[malraux]

7 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I had MMR and Polio vaccine sometime during my life, but I am 46 and I am not sure how to "prove" it.  I did get TDaP last year, but I am not gonna get the other two again just to go to anything over 72 hours.

If it’s on a medical record somewhere, it’s fine though. 

[5thGenTexan]

1 minute ago, malraux said:

If it’s on a medical record somewhere, it’s fine though. 

Its not though.  I got that stuff when I started school in 1979 or something.  I did get some vaccines before entering high school in 1988, but I have no record of that.   That doctors office has been long gone for years now.

 

[scoutldr]

I got my polio vaccine circa 1963...my dad brought home the sugar cubes he got from the corpsman on the ship.  Pretty sure there's no record of it...

[Eagle1993]

I think most adults will be in the same boat.  I would expect self declared vaccinations would work hopefully.   I know some clearances require serology testing to prove vaccinations but that seems a bit much here.

[skeptic]

I was led to believe that the early childhood inocculations were forever.  I got what was available in the mid to late forties, then the polio when it became available.  I had mumps and chicken pocks as a kid in very heavy cases, then oddly got measels twice my last quarter of my freshman year; first the regular "3 day", then just a couple weeks later the German.  Missed half the last quarter and messed up my grades royally due to absences.  Also was given stuff for plague when I was supposed to go to Peru in the Peace Corps, then got "selected out" and ended up joining the Air Force in 65 and when they had an outbreak of plague in Turkey in 1966 they gave all of us in Europe the plague shots, and I got really ill due to the basically double dose.  They would not believe me that I had gotten it less than a year before, and I did not have the proof.  But, never got the plague.  

 

[5thGenTexan]

1 hour ago, skeptic said:

I was led to believe that the early childhood inocculations were forever.  I got what was available in the mid to late forties, then the polio when it became available.  I had mumps and chicken pocks as a kid in very heavy cases, then oddly got measels twice my last quarter of my freshman year; first the regular "3 day", then just a couple weeks later the German.  Missed half the last quarter and messed up my grades royally due to absences.  Also was given stuff for plague when I was supposed to go to Peru in the Peace Corps, then got "selected out" and ended up joining the Air Force in 65 and when they had an outbreak of plague in Turkey in 1966 they gave all of us in Europe the plague shots, and I got really ill due to the basically double dose.  They would not believe me that I had gotten it less than a year before, and I did not have the proof.  But, never got the plague.  

 

I got yelled at during check in, while in the parking lot for not having up to date Tetanus.  So, I wouldnt be surprised if someone decided to really enforce the issue.  <shrug>

[skeptic]

44 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I got yelled at during check in, while in the parking lot for not having up to date Tetanus.  So, I wouldnt be surprised if someone decided to really enforce the issue.  <shrug>

That one is really important with the chance of metal or splinter injuries.  A pine needle under a nail is not fun either.  All might result in a tetanus shot.

[MattR]

1 hour ago, 5thGenTexan said:

got yelled at during check in, while in the parking lot for not having up to date Tetanus.  So, I wouldnt be surprised if someone decided to really enforce the issue.

Tetanus is also required every 10 years so you do have a record of it. Call your doctor.

[mashmaster]

Don't mess with Tetanus and especially Meningitis .  

[HelpfulTracks]

I do not see anything on the site that specifically excludes religious exemptions. 

I seriously doubt such a ban on religious exemptions would fly for long even if that is what BSA was trying to do. 

[5thGenTexan]

I did get a Tetanus booster., but I was just using that as an example. 

If the form says a Polio vaccine is required and I don't have "proof" there will be that one person that makes a big deal out of it.  

 

This is all fine and dandy for youth who have a documented vaccination record, but it wont fly at all for adults.

 

[T2Eagle]

23 hours ago, skeptic said:

I was led to believe that the early childhood inocculations were forever.  I got what was available in the mid to late forties, then the polio when it became available.  I had mumps and chicken pocks as a kid in very heavy cases, then oddly got measels twice my last quarter of my freshman year; first the regular "3 day", then just a couple weeks later the German.  Missed half the last quarter and messed up my grades royally due to absences.  Also was given stuff for plague when I was supposed to go to Peru in the Peace Corps, then got "selected out" and ended up joining the Air Force in 65 and when they had an outbreak of plague in Turkey in 1966 they gave all of us in Europe the plague shots, and I got really ill due to the basically double dose.  They would not believe me that I had gotten it less than a year before, and I did not have the proof.  But, never got the plague.  

 

Not all inoculations "convert" that is they don't always trigger enough of a response to confer immunity, and immunizations can wain over time.

I was inoculated for pertussis as a kid, but ended up with it in my forties, almost undoubtedly because one of the kids in my son's preschool was not vaccinated.

My wife recently had to prove all her immunizations for a new job in health care.  There was no practical way to get her childhood vaccination records so she got blood work done to show her titres.  Turns out she did not have immunity to mumps and had to get a new MMR shot.