Sparta dad defies state law; Refuses hepatitis shots for son

Sparta dad defies state law; Refuses hepatitis shots for son

Posted Thursday, November 8, 2001 by Webmaster

By Amber Boyce
Herald Staff Writer

SPARTA — A township middle school parent is challenging a state law
requiring his child to receive the Hepatitis B vaccination.

Richard Shaftan does not believe the vaccination is necessary and when faced with the deadline to get his son the first of three shots, he refused.

Zachary Shaftan, 11, has not been to school this week because the family’s attorney, Michael Carroll of Morristown, advised that the boy should stay home. A hearing was to be held today before Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. MacKenzie at 4 p.m. in Morristown to determine whether Zachary can return to school while the matter is being heard in court.

The Township School Board and the state are both named in the injunction to permit Zachary to return to school while the matter is resolved.

Richard Shaftan’s refusal to have his son vaccinated led the school to send a letter home notifying the family that Zachary had to have to shots or he could not go to school. Richard Shaftan said he did not get the letter until 3:30 p.m. Oct. 31, the day before the Nov. 1 deadline for the first of the series of three shots.

Chapter 14 of the New Jersey State Sanitary Code, Immunization of Pupils, Regulation 16d: Hepatitis B Vaccine, says that beginning Sept. 1, children born on or after Jan. 1, 1990 and entering grade 6 or a comparable special education unassigned grade shall be required to receive three doses of Hepatitis B vaccine.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services allowed school districts to extend the deadline to Nov. 1, at which time, children without documentation of receiving the series should be excluded from school.

Shaftan said he was aware of the deadline, but said he told the school all along he was not going to have his child subjected to the series of
vaccinations. “This is not necessary. This has nothing to do with my child’s education. It ’s (Hepatitis B) not like the mumps or chicken pox. This is all about dollars, not health,” Shaftan said.

Shaftan and his wife, Donna, object to the immunization, believing it is without substantial benefit unrelated to the school’s educational mission and is an unwarranted and illegal intrusion into their rights, as parents, to direct the care and upbringing of their child.

The New Jersey Sanitary Code mandates that all children be vaccinated
against certain diseases before they are permitted to enter into school. The Hepatitis B vaccination is the most recent addition to the list of several vaccinations, including measles, mumps, etc., said School Board Attorney Allan Dzwilewski of Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein, Celso and Kessler in Florham Park.

Zachary Shaftan went to school on Nov. 1 and was not asked to leave, but his father said another letter was sent to him informing him that if his son attended school on Nov. 2, he would be held in the principal’s office.

And Shaftan said the letter notified him that if he tried to send his son to school on the following Monday (Nov. 5), the child would be escorted home by a township police officer.

The letters were from Principal James G. Marcella. The last letter urged Shaftan to comply with the state regulation, so that his son’s schooling was not interrupted.

Shaftan has said he will be exploring the option of home schooling his son.

The challenge contends that the refusal to permit Zachary Shaftan to attend classes until he complies with the vaccination mandate is against his rights and his parents’ rights.

The parents are seeking permanent injunctive relief, preventing the school and the state from enforcing the vaccination policy against dissenting parents.

Dzwilewski said this issue is more focused at a state level. “We are just enforcing the state law. There is no flexibility for us at the local level when we have to enforce state mandates,” he said.

To his knowledge, there are no other children in the school district who are in violation of the state mandate for immunizations.

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.