Immunization Newsbriefs (c) Copyright
Information Inc., Bethesda, MD. Brought to you by the National Network for
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By the time school started up on Tuesday in
WashingtonD.C., 5,535 children out of 68,000 still had not
complied with immunization policies and were unable to attend classes. Some
parents said they were unaware that they had to follow through with boosters
this year, since their children had been initially immunized the year before,
while others, aware of the policy, said they tried to comply but had been turned
away by clinics who said they were out of some vaccine stocks at the time. In a
last-minute rush between last Friday and Tuesday morning, Ralph Neal, an
assistant superintendent for the district school system, said that over 1,100
students did receive their shots and were able to show proof in time for school
this week. School board President Peggy Cooper Carats commented that it could
take a couple of years yet before "everybody gets it and it's part of the
culture so that [students not having shots] becomes the total exception."
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.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"