Anti-vaxxers in Maplewood?

Is this a thing in Maplewood/South Orange. I haven't heard of it and certainly hope not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/vaccine-critics-turn-defensive-over-measles.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I would imagine anti-vaxxers are keeping a low profile these days given public anger. And it would seem that more than a few have had second thoughts.

I'm sure they're throughout SO too. If people willingly choose to not vaccinate children, then they should live on their own compound with a school system and retail. It's insane that these adults, many who have been vaccinated in the 70's and 80's themselves with no harm, choose not to vaccinate their kids, putting society as risk. SMH.

Curious though, what are the rules for exceptions in our school system? Are unvaccinated children allowed in?

Geez, the people in that article.

I saw just yesterday that a local lactation consultant/parenting educator has been posting anti-vaccination articles on her Facebook page as "vaccine information:"

http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/doctors-against-vaccines-the-other-side-of-the-story-is-not-being-told/
http://vaccineimpact.com/2015/arizona-cardiologist-responds-to-critics-regarding-measles-and-vaccines/
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/measles-transmitted-vaccinated-gov-researchers-confirm

It makes me LIVID that someone who is positioning herself as a trusted information source for new parents is displaying the above articles as fact. Early parenthood is a vulnerable time, and a lactation consultant can seem like a wealth of information when you just don't know what else to do. It is beyond irresponsible of her to be putting her stamp of approval on this "information" for her clients to see and think that this is the right way to do things.

What makes me even MORE upset is that there were several "likes" on each of these articles. So, to answer your question, this is probably "a thing" in this area. I went through to see if I knew anyone who liked it (luckily, no). I would never bring my vulnerable newborn to a place where the employees are regularly handling babies whose families don't think vaccinations are necessary.

A few years ago in the local Mothers & More chapter's discussion board there was a thread about vaccinations. I definitely remember people asking how easy it was to get an exemption from school requirements and someone talking about how vaccinations are a Big Pharma conspiracy. So, yes, some of the anti-vaccine folks are around here.

TarheelsInNj said:

Curious though, what are the rules for exceptions in our school system? Are unvaccinated children allowed in?

Apparently there are a number of exemptions to the vaccination requirement that are very easy to get. Found this out when a kid in my kid's preschool was diagnosed with measles - I was told that the parents had gotten an exemption for religious reasons and there was nothing the school could do. I had a baby who was too young for the MMR at the time - it was pretty scary to bring him along to pick up the preschooler.

Editing for clarity.

I trust that anti-vaxxers generally shun modern medicine. After all, some of the medicines we routinely take are much harder on our bodies than vaccines.

tjohn said:

I trust that anti-vaxxers generally shun modern medicine. After all, some of the medicines we routinely take are much harder on our bodies than vaccines.

If you assume logic informs their position, you would be correct. But, as we all know ...

Yes there are. They used to post here but they would routinely get shouted down.

They stopped posting.

I'm with @kibbegirl
If they want to take the risk with their own kids, fine, go live in on a compound far away. Don't endanger the rest of us.

Sadly, they are threatening the very heard immunity that allows them to make that choice.

I am sure there are a lot of parents in this area who have chosen not to have their children vaccinate, never mind that the modern vacines are extremely safe and almost 100 percent effective. They listen to the Jenny McCarthy types who base their arguments on junk science and count on other parents to put their own kids at risk to get the vaccination percentage up to where herd immunity kicks in. Strangely this attitude is very popular with highly educated middle and upper middle class families.

I don't know the exact rules for NJ, but in a lot of states to get an exemption for school you no longer have to claim and prove a religious issue. You just have to state that you have a moral or ethical problem with vaccidnation.

NJ has a religious and medical exception but a philosophical or moral belief is not considered a valid religious exemption. Most difficult states to get an exemption require a doctor to sign off even on religious exemption. Perhaps NJ should consider adding this.

Years ago I had a neighbor, from the West Coast, who was worried about getting her non-vaccinated child registered in school. She said there was much more tolerance for that out there. Her kid did get in the schools here, but I'm not sure if got an exemption or just had him vaccinated. It made me wonder what would happen if a parent was adamant about not getting the vaccination and the school refused to grant an exemption. Sounds like a legal mess.

There are all kinds of websites giving advice on how to get religious exemptions. Most religions associated with anti vaccine thinking do not have any clear dictates on vaccines by their leaders. So much of these exemptions are scams.

I hope that as measles outbreaks become more common (sadly) that the pendulum will begin to swing back to a place of rational scientific based thought. My parents and their generation considered vaccinations to be a godsend and life saving (which they are!) because they witnessed firsthand the death and ravaging effects from those same diseases. My mom had family members who were permanently changed by polio and my own grandmother nearly died from measles. Unfortunately, it may take death and life altering effects of the children of anti-vaxxers to change some of their minds. Sadly, there will also be a loss of those vulnerable children who can't be vaccinated that the anti people so callously dismiss as expendable. It makes me so mad and is the epitome of selfishness. Anyone who tries to tell me otherwise is just plain wrong. It is a selfish ridiculous harmful decision.

mod said:

NJ has a religious and medical exception but a philosophical or moral belief is not considered a valid religious exemption. Most difficult states to get an exemption require a doctor to sign off even on religious exemption. Perhaps NJ should consider adding this.

There are 20 states that allow philosophical or moral exemptions right now.

Shadeaux said:

mod said:

NJ has a religious and medical exception but a philosophical or moral belief is not considered a valid religious exemption. Most difficult states to get an exemption require a doctor to sign off even on religious exemption. Perhaps NJ should consider adding this.

There are 20 states that allow philosophical or moral exemptions right now.

Yes and it's shameful IMHO

Do I need to start making a checklist for play dates?
1) Are your children updated on all vaccines?
2) Are there guns in your home?
3) Do you have a pool?

Anything else I need to be paranoid about? At least my kid doesn't have any food allergies.

If a kid is up to date on his/her vaccines, no need to worry about getting a disease from a kid who isn't vaccinated. Just plain ignorant not to vaccinate your child, and put them at risk!

Afa, would you mind posting the name of the lactation consultant or at least PMing me with their name if you don't feel comfortable publicly posting it? I recently found out I'm pregnant with my first (yay!) and I want to make sure I'm not using a consultant who is against vaccinations.

I'm hoping the current measles outbreak will be a big wake-up call for people who are considering not vaccinating their children.

annemarie said:

Do I need to start making a checklist for play dates?
1) Are your children updated on all vaccines?
2) Are there guns in your home?
3) Do you have a pool?

Anything else I need to be paranoid about? At least my kid doesn't have any food allergies.

Make sure you are not dropping off at a Pox Party.

Actually no on if your kids have been vaccinated, you're ok.

Sadly, vaccines aren't 100% effective. Some are and some make not take. You dont know unless you draw blood and test for titer levels.

I had that done for my daughter.

So yes, Annemarie, guns, pools and vaccines.

@cdub, congrats!! Hope you're feeling good. I'll pm you once I'm on a computer.

@annemarie, our big kids aren't old enough to be fully vaccinated against several diseases, including measles. This is why I get so mama-bear about this stuff. I'm doing everything right but I still can't protect my kids against stuff that should be a total non-issue. The lactation consultant said she's "just sharing information" on her FB page, but her sharing that (totally inaccurate) information as someone many parents trust wholeheartedly means there could be a crop of special snowflakes going to preschool with our (not-able-to-be-fully-vaccinated) babies in a couple of years.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/30/1361224/-Roald-Dahl-s-Heartbreaking-Take-on-Vaccines?detail=facebook

Your right to practice your religion ends at the tip of your disease-infested, non-vaccinated rugrat.

There should be no, none, zero, nada religious exemptions for public health concerns that don't also carry a requirement to school your kids separately, disclose their non-vax status, etc. As others have said- it's shameful, selfish, and totally unsupported by widely accepted science, facts, and law.

Don't like it? Move to a wide open state far away and stay away from the rational herds here.

I'm hoping we get some 'defenders' posting up. I have my shouting-down trousers on.

MOL_Rat said:

Your right to practice your religion ends at the tip of your disease-infested, non-vaccinated rugrat.

There should be no, none, zero, nada religious exemptions for public health concerns that don't also carry a requirement to school your kids separately, disclose their non-vax status, etc. As others have said- it's shameful, selfish, and totally unsupported by widely accepted science, facts, and law.

Don't like it? Move to a wide open state far away and stay away from the rational herds here.

I'm hoping we get some 'defenders' posting up. I have my shouting-down trousers on.

I don't get the impression that the genuinely religious people are the problem. A bigger problem is supposedly rational people going overboard on the view that they should reject all things not natural or supposedly rational people still believing that there is a link between vaccines and autism.

I hate the fact that I'm scared to put them on a plane for vacation in a few weeks.

cdub said:

Afa, would you mind posting the name of the lactation consultant or at least PMing me with their name if you don't feel comfortable publicly posting it? I recently found out I'm pregnant with my first (yay!) and I want to make sure I'm not using a consultant who is against vaccinations.

Congratulations, cdub! May I make a suggestion? Ask any lactation expert you consult whether they are for or against vaccines before you enter an arrangement with them. Ruling out ONE might not be enough.

Yeah, well leave it to penn and teller to get the last word in on anti vaccines. bullshyt!

http://youtu.be/lhk7-5eBCrs

hazel said:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/30/1361224/-Roald-Dahl-s-Heartbreaking-Take-on-Vaccines?detail=facebook

Great article, including the part on how offensive it is to people with autism that people would rather risk death by measles for their children than the (disproven) risk of autism.

Even more amazing to me are the parents who refuse newborn screening for genetic diseases, out of some fear of government tracking. It isn't a public health threat to the rest of us, but has lead to death and disability in children treated too late.

As a parent of a child on the autistic spectrum (what used to be called Aspergers), and a child who would have suffered mental damage, including likely very-low IQ if his thyroid deficiency hadn't been caught by the screens, I'm a huge supporter of both vaccines and thorough infant screening for genetic disease.