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| Summoned: Parents in Prince George's County, Md., were ordered to appear at a court hearing Saturday to prove their child
was in compliance with immunization requirements. Andy Nelson – staff |
One Maryland county takes tough tack on vaccinations
In one of the strongest stands in the US, Prince George's County, Md., orders parents to immunize their children or risk up to 10 days in jail.
from the November 19, 2007 edition
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Luis Hernandez says that buff-colored letter, which arrived a day before his Nov. 17 court date, got his attention. He gave up a day of work mounting dry wall to figure it out with a judge.
"I was a little afraid to see 'Court House' [on the letterhead]," he said. "I thought: 'Wow, what's wrong? I didn't do anything.' " He unfolds a full-page record of vaccinations and booster shots for his 12-year-old son, Hector. "It's the school that got it wrong," he says.
"That's not necessarily a bad thing," said John White, spokesman for the 132,000-student school system, commenting on this case. "For two years we've been asking parents to get right with the requirements, and now they are."
By the end of the day, more than 100 children had been immunized and some 70 records corrected and updated.
But protesters outside the courthouse say that the summons to the courthouse amounted to a campaign of intimidation, and that parents weren't adequately informed of their rights as parents or possible risks to their children.
"I think it's offensive that the government would forcibly vaccinate kids. Individual rights are a good thing, and when you're dealing with health issues, informed consent is an important value," says Donna Hurlack, a Virginia gynecologist protesting outside the courthouse.
"There was a feeling of intimidation. Children were basically put in that building, lined up and given vaccines without any information given to parents about how to monitor their children for adverse vaccination reactions," says Barbara Loe Fisher, president and cofounder of the National Vaccine Information Center, which advocates for more parental rights in immunization.
She notes that many of the parents she met said they had lost records, and that children may have been revaccinated.
"Vaccines carry risks. Those risks are greater for some than others. At the very least there should have been screening for those children and information given to parents," Ms. Fisher adds.
"The heavy-handed 'vaccine roundup' instigated by Mr. Ivey obliterates informed consent and parental rights," said the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. in a Nov. 18 letter to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
"Vaccines can and do save lives.... But this episode has demonstrated that we must take a much more deliberative approach in crafting and enforcing vaccine policy without sacrificing the rights and liberties of individuals and families," the letter stated.
Twenty-eight states, including Florida, Massachusetts, and New York, allow parents to opt out of required vaccinations only for medical or religious reasons. Twenty others, such as California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, also permit parents to give personal or philosophical reasons. Mississippi and West Virginia allow exemptions only for medical reasons, according to the Associated Press.
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