A Not So Religious Exemption?
October 18, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Fear of a child becoming autistic from a vaccine or something in a vaccine has led to parents choosing not vaccinating their children and thus making outbreaks of infectious diseases possible. A story in today’s Associated Press reports that parents are now in effect using religion and even lying about their religious beliefs in order to seek a religious exemption from vaccination for their child:
Twenty-eight states, including Florida, Massachusetts and New York, allow parents to opt out for medical or religious reasons only. Twenty other states, among them California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio, also allow parents to cite personal or philosophical reasons. Mississippi and West Virginia allow exemptions for medical reasons only.
From 2003 to 2007, religious exemptions for kindergartners increased, in some cases doubled or tripled, in 20 of the 28 states that allow only medical or religious exemptions, the AP found. Religious exemptions decreased in three of these states – Nebraska, Wyoming, South Carolina – and were unchanged in five others.
The rate of exemption requests is also increasing.
For example, in Massachusetts, the rate of those seeking exemptions has more than doubled in the past decade – from 0.24 percent, or 210, in 1996 to 0.60 percent, or 474, in 2006.
In Florida, 1,249 children claimed religious exemptions in 2006, almost double the 661 who did so just four years earlier. That was an increase of 0.3 to 0.6 percent of the student population. Georgia, New Hampshire and Alabama saw their rates double in the past four years.
Sample letters to request a religious exemption can be found online (here and here for example.
Is seeking a religious exemption from vaccination for a child out of fear of autism doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons?
That’s really interesting and I can see the connection—-but here in New Jersey, it has become much harder to claim such an exemption: School districts are saying that you may have to speak to their attorney if you seek such an exemption.
It is very interesting. Strangly I recognize the name Waleen James, but I can’t place where it’s from (I thought it was a health book author). I’m wondering if the name is spelled incorrectly, because I’m only finding the single reference to vaccines in that one article, hardly a good enough reference on it’s own. It’s interesting how differently the states treat the matter.
I think that being able to opt out of medical care for religious reasons only is irresponsible. How could you as a parent, watch your child die of a perfectly treatable disease because of religious beliefs. I also think that it should be known that according to these exemption laws if your child does end up dieing, you the parent is held liable. I think this is also irresponsible. If you are going to put the parents in jail anyway for murder why don’t we save three lives and just treat the child. All together this is a very touchy issue. Peoples beliefs are strong, impenetrable, and sometimes dangerous. I think if we just kept religion out of medicine all would be well.
People choose not to vaccinate for many more reasons besides wanting to avoid giving their children autism. If vaccines were side effect free, made of completely harmless materials, and widely researched for safety other than by the people that promote and make money off of vaccines, then yes, it would be irresponsible not to vaccinate our children. However, that is not the case. I can’t speak for everyone, but most people that I know that choose not to vaccinate have made a decision based on many hours of research, and really know their stuff. These are not all ignorant people making impulsive decisions to get vaccinated just because they heard a rumor about autism. These people care enough about their children to look into issues for themselves and stand up for that what they feel is the best thing for their child, despite the hate and abuse and hardships they may go through to do so. It’s really not fun to go against the crowd, why would parents go through all that trouble just based an uneducated whim?
but to answer the question directly, say a parent solely chose not to vaccinate because they heard vaccines caused autism. Do I think that is insufficient reason? NO. I think that until we know EXACTLY how safe vaccines are, the default needs to be NOT to get them. If there is any doubt, why should we take that risk? What about the risk that vaccines themselves carry?
Before anyone claims that its riskier NOT to vaccinate, for fear of spreading disease, they must first research such specific diseases, and just how dangerous they are. Also, they need to research exactly what is in vaccines and how effective and long lasting they are, and weigh that risk for themselves. It’s a right we should all have. It’s hardly a right now, considering how much bullying people get for it.
All would be well had we just kept religion in, and not just when it was convenient.