by Tedd Koren, D.C.
How do you avoid compulsory vaccination laws while getting your children into public school? The bureaucracy somehow feels that the 1% or so of unvaccinated children are a threat to the 99% of vaccinated ones, as if they’re walking petri dishes. They’re the one’s with the healthy immune systems. Of course if they really believed in vaccination why should they care if a few unvaccinated kids are walking around? How could they bother all those “protected” children?
But getting back to the larger question: how to avoid the wrath of the State while protecting your child from vaccine roulette? There are a number of ways. The best is avoid public school. According to one authority a child’s I.Q. drops for every year he or she is in the Chicago public school system. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case all over. First, vaccination is technically voluntary (if it were not so then you could sue the school board, doctor, teachers, health department and anyone else around if your child is hurt) so you could go the legal route. I’m not an expert in this arena, but I suspect most people would rather not makes waves and pay for legal battles. As a group we chiropractors are in a unique position to fight vaccination since we are into natural health care and have money, unlike most massage therapists, nutritionists, midwives and others into “alternative” health. But now I’d like to show you some vaccine avoidance techniques that have worked for people I know.
1. One person I met says no one in her family has ever been vaccinated. They always considered vaccination just another way for doctors do make money. When confronted she would tell the health nurse, M.D. or whoever can write an exemption that they really want to comply with school policy but her child had once had a severe reaction to vaccination and had a seizure in the doctor’s office. She contacted her mother who she said that kind of reaction runs in the family. Her mother heard of a cousin who went into convulsions and stopped breathing about 20 hours after a vaccine and had to be rushed to the hospital and is now mildly retarded. They sued the doctor and the school board for a million dollars. You’d like to vaccinate but would rather not in light of your concerns. Is that OK doctor? You have relatives who didn’t vaccinate any of their kids and they’re all fine so if it’s OK with you I’d rather not have my child become a statistic. I’ll take my chances with the childhood diseases.
The woman who told it to me says the above has worked on school officials, doctors, and other assorted bureaucrats. Nobody had any problems. Remember, a bureaucrat doesn’t want any trouble. They don’t want to fill out a lot of forms. They’re thinking about they’re kids, their paycheck, they’re boring job. Play along, keep it casual and relaxed. Giving a kid a vaccination exemption is a bother, but dealing with a lawsuit or a child’s death on their conscience is a bigger bother. They’ll take the course of least resistance.
2. A friend of mine, (a D.C.) used an interesting approach. His children were never immunized and he never had any trouble from the school authorities. His children would come home with some form regarding vaccination. He’s write “O.K.” on the form and sign it. The forms were collected by the teacher. No trouble for the decade or so of school. One time there was a hitch. A camp nurse, when handed the “OK” form signed by the parent questioned the child. What does “OK” mean? The child answered “OK means OK.”
The nurse said, “Oh, OK.”
And that, as they say, was that.
Doctors, nurses and other officials don’t like to stick their necks out or be the only one’s doing it. Actually, nobody does. So say “The other M.D.s (schools, nurses, public health departments etc.) excused my child from vaccinations.” Add “we didn’t have trouble getting an exemption the last time, etc.” It takes a lot of pressure off them and doesn’t makes them feel like they’re the odd man out.
