Tag: discrimination

Can Schools Remove Unvaccinated Kids?

Why do parents think that their intentionally unvaccinated kids can not or will not be removed from school?

This school in Michigan was right to send unvaccinated kids home during a chickenpox outbreak.
This school in Michigan was right to send unvaccinated kids home during a chickenpox outbreak.

After all, when available, part of their choice when signing their child’s immunization waiver is to accept that their child could be excluded from school “as a disease control measure.”

Keeping unvaccinated kids out of school during an outbreak is the only way to keep more kids from getting sick. It is not a form of discrimination or segregation.

Well, I guess accept is a strong word…

Can Schools Remove Unvaccinated Kids?

Why is this coming up again?

“Last week, Marysville High School forcibly removed over 37 students from the high school due to an alleged outbreak of chicken pox, which consisted of two students.”

Parent: School wrong to remove unvaccinated students

Why send unvaccinated kids home when someone at the school has chickenpox?

Once upon a time, with no treatment or vaccine, families would just be quarantined when they had chicken pox.
Once upon a time, with no treatment or vaccine, families would just be quarantined when they had chicken pox. Photo by Howard Liberman.

Because chickenpox is very contagious!

For every case of chickenpox, up to 12 others who are not immune will catch it, which used to lead to large outbreaks in the pre-vaccine era.

“Homecoming events are happening all week long. The school has barred any Marysville student who cannot provide immunity status from attending these week long events including the homecoming parade and the homecoming dance. This group of banned students consists of band members, cheerleaders, and football players. HOWEVER, the school is allowing students from other school districts to attend without checking immunity or vaccination status of the visiting student.”

Parent: School wrong to remove unvaccinated students

To be clear, any of the kids with non-medical exemptions could have gone back to school if they had just gotten a chickenpox vaccine. It was their parent’s choice to avoid vaccinating and protecting them and that is what is keeping them out of school.

Why allow students from other school districts to visit the school?

Those students, even if they are unvaccinated, would not have already been exposed to the Marysville kids with chickenpox! They aren’t a risk to keep the outbreak going.

That is unlike the unvaccinated kids at Marysville High School. They could have already been exposed and could come down with chickenpox anytime over the 10 to 21 days following that exposure. If they stayed in school, they could then expose others, especially as you can be contagious even before you know that you have chickenpox.

“The Marysville School District released the private health, educational, and personal records of these students to the health department without parental consent. This is a clear violation of federal law.”

Parent: School wrong to remove unvaccinated students

And while the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) does protect student privacy, there are exceptions for health or safety emergencies, including “the outbreak of an epidemic disease.”

As St. Claire County has a high rate of vaccine exemptions, it is not surprising that they are being so pro-active in trying to prevent the outbreak from growing.

“According to Michigan state law, there are three ways to provide immunity to a school. One, is a vaccination record. Two, is a titers blood test that shows immunity. Three, is an affidavit signed by a parent, guardian, or doctor that states the child has had the chicken pox. Despite the fact that at least one parent submitted an affidavit, the school has admitted they will not follow state law, but instead continue based on what the heath department recommends.”

Parent: School wrong to remove unvaccinated students

What about the idea that the school should have accepted the parents affidavit that their child is immune to chickenpox?

“(4) When a local health officer confirms or reasonably suspects that a student or individual attending school or a group program has a communicable disease, the health officer may, as a disease control measure, exclude from attendance any individuals lacking documentation of immunity or otherwise considered susceptible to the disease until such time as the health officer deems there to be no likely further risk of disease spread.”

MDHHS Communicable and Related Diseases Administrative Rules

Because chickenpox is now becoming more and more uncommon, many states are requiring titers to confirm immunity if a child is unvaccinated.

So what happens next?

When an intentionally unvaccinated Kentucky teen was banned from school during a chickenpox outbreak his family sued. They lost and he ended up getting chickenpox! Although he is now at increased risk to get shingles, he didn’t expose anyone else at his school.

We will see what happens in Michigan…

Parents of children affected by the quarantine and removed from school did choose. Their choice was to leave their kids unvaccinated and unprotected.
Parents of children affected by the quarantine and removed from school did choose. Their choice was to leave their kids unvaccinated and unprotected. Hopefully no one at their protest gets exposed to chickenpox.

Unless there is a new case, there is less than a week left to go and of the original 37 students, only 14 students are still being quarantined.

More on Removing Unvaccinated Kids from School

Did Police Block an Unvaccinated Girl from Getting Into School?

Anti-vax folks have been talking a lot about segregation, discrimination and civil rights lately. What’s the latest? Comparing new vaccine laws that eliminate non-medical exemptions to folks who tried to stop desegregation in the 1960s.

Parents have a choice about whether or not to vaccinate their kids and send them to school…

Look familiar? As anti-vaccine propaganda? Yes, it does.

Did Police Keep an Unvaccinated Girl from Getting Into School?

Of course, the new pic is a little girl holding a sign saying “I want to go to school.”

Were the two photos taken at the same time, by anti-vaccine protestors inside and outside the building, or did they have her pose again?
Were the two photos taken at the same time, by anti-vaccine protestors inside and outside the building, or did they have her pose again?

Are the police blocking her, keeping her out of school as the photo suggests?

Healthy kids belong in school, unless you pull them out to go to your anti-vaccine protest...
“Healthy kids belong in school,” unless you pull them out to go to your anti-vaccine protest…

Is this about segregation?

Of course not!

The photo of the girl with the police was taken at an anti-vaccine protest at the state Education Department’s headquarters in Albany, New York on Monday, September 9.

“State troopers and Albany police were called in, and the department’s stately front entrances were chained shut temporarily, in a rare safety precaution.

Meanwhile, a monthly meeting of the state’s Board of Regents, originally scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., was delayed about 40 minutes, while officials moved to restore order. “

Angry parents, others opposed to vaccinations crowd Regents meeting

Even though the Board of Regents have no power to reverse a new law in New York that eliminates religious exemptions, “they held a rally and stormed a Board of Regents meeting to demand they have the right to not vaccinate.”

And that’s where the photo of the little girl holding her sign was taken.

Not outside a school, but outside the state Education Department’s headquarters, where police and state troopers were called to restore order during the protest.

This isn’t about civil rights, segregation, or discrimination.

It’s about parents who want to continue not vaccinating their kids, while also being allowed to send those intentionally unvaccinated kids to school.

What’s the problem with that? Those intentionally unvaccinated kids are at higher risk to catch vaccine preventable diseases, which put others at risk, especially those with medical exemptions.

More on Vaccine Segregation and Discrimination

Is Vaccine Discrimination a Thing?

Hopefully everyone understands that discrimination is still very common these days. From race and religion to age and sex based discrimination, even with protective laws and regulations, many people face discrimination each and every day.

Is Vaccine Discrimination a Thing?

We should start by saying that vaccine discrimination is not really a thing. After all, no one is discriminating against children and adults with true medical exemptions to getting vaccinated.

Is a physician or nurse being nosy or bossy if they ask about vaccines when you go to a clinic or ER with your sick child?
Is a physician or nurse being nosy or bossy if they ask about vaccines when you go to a clinic or ER with your sick child?

It is only folks who intentionally skip or delay vaccines who think they are being discriminated against.

How does that work?

If their intentionally unvaccinated kid without a medical exemption can’t go to camp, play in a baseball tournament, or has to find a new pediatrician, they are now crying discrimination.

Which type of person is Bob Sears?
Which type of person is Bob Sears?

Bob Sears goes as far as saying that the discrimination against parents whose children are intentionally unvaccinated is worse than the treatment of blacks in the Jim Crow era!

“In my opinion, this is a new type of discrimination at its worst. It’s taking a new class of vulnerable children — the vaccine-compromised — and saying that because they refuse to finish their damn shots, they don’t get school. Forget separate but equal. This is separate … and NOTHING! No school at all. Soon it’s going to be no playgrounds and no drinking fountains either. Hey, the last time our government did this to a group of people, at least they GOT drinking fountains. They even got to ride buses, as long as they sat in the back. Because our government said “those people” were not safe for the rest of us to be around, and our society stood by and let it happen. And the discrimination we perpetrated on our equals so many years ago is one of the great evils our country is still guilty of. Is that what this article, and the California SB 276 bill it’s supporting, is asking us to go back to?”

Bob Sears

I would say that this is the worse thing that he has ever written, but I remember his post about how we were going to start making unvaccinated kids wear yellow stars…

This isn’t even the first time that Bob Sears has written about vaccines and discrimination.

Life was good in 1988... if you weren't affected by discrimination, segregation, or any of these now vaccine-preventable diseases.
Life was good in 1988… if you weren’t affected by discrimination, segregation, or any of these now vaccine-preventable diseases.

Bob was right about one thing… There is a carefully crafted PR campaign going on. It’s full of propaganda to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

This isn’t discrimination though.

These are the consequences of their vaccine choice. Unfortunately, it is typically the kids who get stuck with the consequences of the choices their parents make.

Equating real problems of discrimination and segregation to the issue of parents choosing to keep their kids unvaccinated and unprotected is not only silly, but it is also offensive.

“We shouldn’t accept the idea that there is an ounce of discrimination when we are confronted with these bogus accounts of abuse. By conceding some degree of unfair treatment, when unwarranted, we undermine the real meaning of discrimination. Providing a soundboard to advantaged phonies who are unable to discern between a privilege and right only emboldens those at the top.”

Time to Fight Fake Discrimination

It subverts the work of all of those who are trying to end true discrimination.

More On Vaccine Discrimination

Are Vaccine Laws a Form of State Sponsored Segregation?

Bob Sears doesn’t seem to like that more states are having to strengthen their vaccine laws, making it harder for kids to skip or delay their vaccines.

That seems rather ironic, as many parents likely were scared away from vaccinating and protecting their kids because of the misinformation folks like him continue to push.

Are Vaccine Laws a Form of State Sponsored Segregation?

What the latest?

The idea that vaccine laws are a form of state sponsored segregation…

“If you don’t see the historical parallels, and if it doesn’t concern you that State and now Federal Legislators think that discrimination and segregation are OK again, and you don’t realize that this is all a carefully-crafted PR campaign to sell the idea that some children are dirty and dangerous, when decades ago all kids were considered equal, then you are blind.”

Bob Sears

Bob Sears isn’t the first to try and conflate skipping vaccines into a civil rights issue, but he is certainly the one being the most obvious about it…

Now when were all kids really considered equal in the United States?

Was it the late 1980s, when Bob thinks everyone had it so great?

Remember, that was just before the big measles outbreaks from 1989 to 1991, when 123 people died. During those three years, there were also 28 deaths from pertussis, 6 deaths from mumps, 13 deaths from rubella and 77 cases of congenital rubella syndrome!

Life was good?

I was a little older than 10 in 1988 and remember that folks still died of all of these diseases, so added that to this nice infographic so you get the real perspective.

Is this the worst thing Bob has ever posted?

Well, there is that time he talked about unvaccinated kids wearing yellow stars…

“…So I tell them they don’t have to whisper. They can say it loud and clear, with confidence. Ya, I guess you don’t want to advertise it around the neighborhood – that will come soon enough. Scarlet “V” anyone? No, not scarlet. Let’s make it yellow. And not a V – a star would be better. That way everyone can know at first glance who is safe to be around and who is not. That way, if your old doctor and his children are walking down the street, they can easily identify your kids and quickly cross to the other side before they get too close.

Ask your Assemblyperson which color and shape they think would be most appropriate.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as a reference to a holocaust. Rather, it’s intended to raise the issue of prejudice and discrimination. Others have likenend vaccine injury to a holocaust. Instead, we are talking about families who choose to not vaccinate. No holocaust here.”

Dr. Bob Sears on The Vaccine Whisperers

So which historical parallel is Bob talking about this time?

Equating real problems of discrimination and segregation to the issue of parents wanting to keep their kids unvaccinated and unprotected is not only silly, but it is also offensive.

And for perspective, in 1988, not only did more people get vaccine-preventable diseases, more people died with vaccine-preventable diseases.

Did we freak out about it? Of course not. We worked towards an immunization plan to control and eliminate more of these diseases.

How can Bob Sears be blind to all of this?

More on Vaccine Laws and State Sponsored Segregation