Private school vaccine opt-outs rise

Another article on parents opting out of vaccinations for their school aged children.  For decades the fight was against easily transmitted, debilitating childhood diseases.  When the medical community succeeded in virtually eradicating these, a new fight began.  The reasons may be religious, philosophical, or motivated by fear.  Misinformation or misinterpretation of information that abounds on the internet doesn’t help.  But a new fight is in full swing – this time it’s parents against the medical community, schools, and sometimes their children’s classmates.

Claiming parental rights, increasing numbers of parents are opting out of childhood vaccines. Not only are they exposing their children to known risks by potentially saving them from unknown ones, they are bringing back these often deadly diseases into the school community.

Whose rights should dominate – parents who want to protect their children claiming individual rights or the parents whose children are inadvertently affected – e.g., those who choose to send their children to private schools where childhood illnesses have resurfaced because vaccinations no longer keep them at bay?

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/09/13763730-private-school-vaccine-opt-outs-rise?lite

Elizabeth Perelstein

Chair
The School Choice Group:
School Choice International
School Search Solutions
www.Schoolchoicegroup.com