Colorado's New Immunization Rules: Politics Trump Health
So Colorado just made it a little harder to get a non-medical exemption to vaccinations in school age kids. But not much harder.
Beginning in July 2016, a parent will now have to submit a waiver every year to get the exemption for non-medical reasons. Right now, you do it once, and your kid is covered from K-12 with no further lifting of a finger.
Sounds like the new rules will mean extra work, but not really: you can do the exemption online. No trip to the school. No trip to the doctor. No nothing. Including no protection.
Discouraging to hear, especially because we think Colorado ranks LAST in the U.S when it comes to immunizing its kids -- the reason I say think is that many parents don't even bother to fill out the single waiver form, and schools are often too busy to keep track.
It's a sad deal. It's also a threat to public health.
It's not like the governor or the state health folks didn't try to put some teeth into the guidelines to get us out of the immunization basement. But anything stronger has to go through the state Legislature -- and unfortunately that place -- on this issue -- is a stew of malfunction.
Here's why the Legislature and a minority of vocal constituents are politicizing the issue:
- Anything stricter infringes on parental rights.
- Collecting information is an "invasion of privacy."
- Some people still believe the bogus misinformation about vaccine safety.
- And there is opposition to make it mandatory for a parent who opts out to receive information from a physician regarding the benefits of vaccinations.
The good news is that this new system of data collection may help if an outbreak of measles or similar disease occurs. You'll be able to see which schools have had the most "opt-outs," meaning children who are without protection -- and are potential disease factories.
Plus if you have a child who cannot be immunized because of a medical condition, you can learn which schools are an "outbreak waiting to happen" -- a school you can steer clear of.
The bad news is the attitude of those who put their own "rights" ahead of the safety of the community as a whole. Because that's just what this all about.
It is necessary for a community to work together to stay healthy. We do it on many an issue. This shouldn't be one we fight over. Even California is tightening its rules.
Finally, if you need real-life education, research the days of polio and the "iron lung" -- it was at a time when a vaccination for polio didn't exist. Then picture your child in that machine. Sometimes we don't know how lucky we are.
Dr. Dave Hnida blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida
