Medical Exemptions

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 7:45 am

As I have said in other threads, one of my kids was medically exempt from all vaccines from the age 5 due to seizures from a flu shot. When he became an adult, he resumed vaccinating by getting the MMR in response to the measles outbreak. No doctor wanted to vaccinate him for the rest of his childhood and no school or camp questioned the decision. I had even spoken to someone at the CDC in Atlanta and they agreed that no further vaccines should be given.

Today it's nearly impossible to get a medical exemption because doctors are afraid of losing their license the same way that they won't declare a person to be too disabled to work unless they are practically bedridden. This may be causing precarious situations for children who truly don't react well to vaccines.

This is a separate issue from religious freedom and painting it as a religious issue when it should be recognized as a medical one puts people in danger because the law doesn't have to put religious freedom above public safety.

There, however, are bigger reasons to have health care professionals learn more about which members of society should avoid vaccines and that is to gain public trust. Lack of trust in the medical establishment and pharmaceutical industry is leading to a dangerous worldwide drop in vaccination rates and in some places it is resulting in deaths.

We can blame charlatans and gullible people but we also need to acknowledge that the average health care professional who administers vaccines is not an expert in immunology or infectious diseases. There were things that the outbreak taught health officials that were previously unrecognized such as overlooking the fact that some age groups were not protected or that pregnant women could lose immunity (as indicated in antibody levels).

Fighting for religious freedom may help if religious exemptions are restored but they ignore the bigger issue of making sure that children who don't tolerate vaccines are protected rather than turning them into poster children for the anti-vax movement and more importantly, harming rather than protecting their health.

And we must acknowledge that greedy and unscrupulous doctors have soaked phoney ME seekers for $$$ so there does need to be oversight but there also needs to be an awareness that MEs may have to include more children than the immune supressed and those who have anaphylactic reactions. Even if this includes another one percent of children who are possibly going to catch and spread disease, it would hopefully cause fewer people to join the anti-vaxers and the overall effect would be more vaccinated children.

Maybe those are are seeking REs when it's really a medical issue need to put their energies there.

amother

Coral

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:09 am

I keep hearing on here that's it's impossible to get a medical exemption. I don't know.. off the top of my head I can think of 3 children in the practice I work at who have a medical exemption for a specific vaccine and 1 that has an exemption to all vaccines. The doctors are not scared of giving exemptions. They just don't give it if they don't think there's a medical reason to give it. We have another child that had febrile seizures after vaccines. But those seizures were due to the fever, not the vaccine. He successfully had other vaccines later on and when he had no fever, he had no issue.

amother

Blue

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:13 am

This is also the problem with pain relievers. Doctors are scared to prescribe opioids when needed. I got a 5 day supply for open heart surgery. Please tell me anyone who ever recovered from open heart in 5 days. I was bed ridden and had to go to my primary care doctor for another 5 day supply. It was the most painful uncomfortable journey.

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:14 am

Maybe there is a way to give time limited MEs because the child may tolerate it better at an older age.

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:42 am

If ur child is an adult, why does he need a medical exemption? Is he in a school setting?

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:45 am

The New guidelines for doctors requires them to fill out a medical exemption form and send it to DOH for approval. It specifically asks which vaccine ur asking to be exempt from, the reason and for how long. It needs to be requested every year again.

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:47 am

whewpy wrote:

If ur child is an adult, why does he need a medical exemption? Is he in a school setting?

He had exemptions through his yeshiva years.

amother

Red

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:51 am

from what I understood - doctors are giving the exemption - schools aren't accepting it. Thats a problem. Who at the school is qualified to make that call?

If you have a doctor who is against mandatory vaccination (a philosophical position that many people hold) its not a leap to say that he will be generous in giving the exemption.

I'm recalling that in some jurisdictions there needs to be a person (govt employee) who needs to approve.

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 8:52 am

If yes not in a school setting, he doesn't need n exemption. He just needs to get the ones he can and skip the ones he can't. Exemptions are needed to attend school

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 9:00 am

Red, the DOH revised the guidelines. Its no longer enough for the dr to give the exemption. They need to fill out a form for the DOH stating childs school, which vaccine needs exemption, the reason why and for how long. The DOH need to approve it. The schools don't need people to understand reasons. They now will accept DOH approved exemptions but exemptions just given by Dr, like til now, is no longer enough. Btw, they need to be requested on a yearly basis. They tightened the guidelines because of the mess CA had with medical exemptions

amother

Red

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 9:04 am

whewpy wrote:

So it was NY that I was thinking of.

Is a doctor at risk of loosing his license if he puts a patient forward for a medical exemption and its denied?

Is the DOH staffed with people competent to review the files presented to them?

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 9:13 am

I don't see why Dr should lose his license for requesting an exemption. Hes not doing anything wrong. Of course, if the DOH would see a pattern Of a Dr asking for numerous exemptions for not legitimate reasons, they may look at this drs exemptions as suspect, but Dr didn't do anything wrong by requesting it....

Whether the DOH staff is competent, or have agendas, or are not interested in working with particular medical conditions, that a whole different story on its own

amother

Orchid

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 10:43 am

whewpy wrote:

Fact is doctors are afraid to request because it puts them under scrutiny. They avoid it as much as possible.

amother

Red

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:11 am

amother [ Orchid ] wrote:

Fact is doctors are afraid to request because it puts them under scrutiny. They avoid it as much as possible.

Is that a fact?

The regulations requiring this DOE oversight are less than three weeks old.

whewpy

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:15 am

Drs have no reason to be afraid because they are no longer granting the exemptions. They are only requesting them. However, I can see how many busy pediatric offices will now feel that its too much of a hassle to be busy with this and let ur immunologist deal with the whole issue

amother

Red

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:20 am

whewpy wrote:

Its a HUGE headache - and not the way to treat medical professionals.

amother

Orange

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:22 am

My child has an epi pen for egg allergy. The flu shot contains eggs. NYC mandated flu shots last year. My doctor said they needed a letter from Allergy Dr that she cannot have the shot. Then they could give me a letter to submit to the school. Otherwise the DOH won't accept it.

She's BH never had an anaphylactic reaction but her levels show she can. She started off with a few hives the first time she had eggs, the second time was all over her face, and the third was already down her shoulders and upper arms. We didn't know there was an egg Allergy (we were trying to figure out what was causing the hives) as prior testing 2 years before did not show eggs. It did show other allergies.

teachkids

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:23 am

I also think there has to be a discussion of what is a valid medical exemption.
Kid had a reaction=exemption
Sibling had a reaction = delayed and observed shots.
Cousin or neighbor had a reaction isn't a reason for an exemption though.

And a fever or a bad nights sleep is not a real reaction- it's normal.

SYA

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:31 am

I had a child with severe egg allergy, who BH outgrew it when he was older. At the time, several shots had eggs in them. I was told by the school "health" liaison that because my son never had an anaphylactic reaction he is not exempt from the shot. She said she wouldn't accept the Dr's exemption letter per DOH guidelines even though the blood test showed his allergy level was that he could have such a reaction. "Wait till he has an episode and then we can give an exemption". This was over 6 years ago. I didn't give it with the agreement of my Dr.

lavenderchimes

Sun, Sep 01 2019, 11:47 am

amother [ Orange ] wrote:

Just FYI, I have a good friend who is allergic to eggs, which is how I know that you can get a flu shot without eggs. It has to be specially requested, idk how, but it is possible.