Brandon Twp.- School doesn’t start until Tuesday, but lectures for some parents began earlier this year and Michelle Ervin is not pleased.
Under a new rule implemented Jan. 1 of this year, Michigan parents and guardians requesting a vaccination waiver for their children for philosophical or religious reasons must have a conversation about the benefits of immunizations, as well as the risks of not doing so.
Ervin’s six children are fully vaccinated, with the exception of one who has a medical contraindication. She does not have to go to the health department to get the vaccination waiver certified, since it is for medical reasons, but she is upset for parents whom she feels are being burdened with having to defend their beliefs.
‘I am concerned because I see this as a bullying technique,? said Ervin. ‘It’s a big change in that they are requiring people to actually go somewhere for training that they wouldn’t normally go… I don’t understand why they are interfering with the doctor-patient relationship. The attitude is that doctors are not as knowledgeable as county health nurses and more likely to allow families to make their own decisions. The current levels of vaccinations, we have been doing fine in the state of Michigan. Overall, we don’t have children dying or mass outbreaks.?
According to the Oakland County Health Division (https://www.oakgov.com/health/services/Pages/Immunization-Rule-Change.aspx), since 1978 Michigan law has required children to be up-to-date with required immunizations on or before the first day of school or entry into childcare, otherwise they will be denied entry. The law allows a waiver of vaccination or delay for valid medical contraindications (signed by the child’s physician) or for valid religious or philosophical beliefs, although ‘waivers should not be taken lightly. A child who is not fully vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases could be a risk to others and for contracting the disease.?
The Michigan Department of Community Health passed a change to the immunization rule on Dec. 11, 2014, requiring any parent/guardian wanting to waive vaccine/vaccines for non-medical reasons to receive vaccine education from their local health department. This rule applies to children entering childcare, kindergarten, and 7th grade or newly enrolled in the school district after January 1, 2015.
‘Oakland County Health Division (OCHD) will provide this education for Oakland County residents and/or those students attending Oakland County childcare facilities and/or schools at no cost, but appointments are required. The 30-minute education session will include information on the risks of not receiving vaccines and the benefits of vaccination to the individual and the community. This will allow parents to make an educated, informed choice for their child.?
OCHD has already had more than 900 of these conversations, said Shane Bies, administrator of public health nursing services. Those conversations are one-on-one by appointment with a public health nurse and typically take between 15 to 30 minutes.
‘There are a lot of emotions on both sides when you talk about vaccinations, but this is a conversation absolutely worth having,? said Bies. ‘Even if some people come to us and still waive the vaccine, if they can have understanding and respect for where we are coming from and us for them, that goes a long way in improving public health. The ultimate goal is to improve health by increasing vaccination rates in the community and help protect people who can’t protect themselves? those too young to be vaccinated, or who can’t because of medical contraindications and those with immune systems that no longer work as well as they once did. They depend on our efforts to help protect them. Unfortunately, in Oakland County, our waiver rates are not good.?
Those waiver rates are high for the state of Michigan. Last school year, Oakland County had the 14th highest waiver rate, with 7.1 percent of assessed students receiving a waiver for at least one vaccine and the highest number of waived vaccinations in the state, with more than 3,500 students waiving at least one vaccination.
Ervin, whose youngest child is in middle school, said her children were all vaccinated when she was a younger mother and it wasn’t until she had a child with a medical contraindication to vaccinations that she began questioning what was in the vaccines.
‘You take the vaccinations because the doctor says it is good for you,? she said. ‘As a parent, you go through the motions… I went in as most mothers do, I want to protect my kids, we trust our pediatricians.?
She later learned that some vaccinations were derived from the cells of electively aborted fetuses.
‘As a pro-life Catholic, I want people to know the bigger story,? said Ervin.
Bies cites the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whom he calls leading experts on vaccines, on the subject of use of aborted fetus cells in vaccinations:
‘Varicella (chickenpox), rubella, hepatitis A, shingles and one preparation of rabies vaccine are all made in fetal embryo fibroblast cells. Fibroblast cells are the cells needed to hold skin and other connective tissue together. The fetal embryo fibroblast cells used to make vaccines were first obtained from elective termination of two pregnancies in the early 1960s. These same embryonic cells obtained from the early 1960s have continued to grow in the laboratory and are used to make vaccines today. No further sources of fetal cells are needed to make these vaccines.
The reasons that fetal cells were originally used included:
Viruses need cells to grow and tend to grow better in cells from humans than animals (because they infect humans).
Almost all cells die after they have divided a certain number of times; scientifically, this number is known as the Hayflick limit, and for most cell lines it is around 50 divisions; however, fetal cells can go through many more divisions before dying.
As scientists studied these viruses in the lab, they found that the best cells to use were the fetal cells mentioned above. When it was time to make a vaccine, they continued growing the viruses in the cells that worked best during these earlier studies.?
Bies notes that all major religions support vaccinations.
Ervin said she is glad her children were vaccinated against polio, but not immunized for chicken pox.
‘Some of the diseases are much more vicious than others,? Ervin said. ‘I was glad the kids weren’t vaccinated against chicken pox and they did get it and their immune systems were strong enough to handle it… Even if they have 100 percent vaccination rate, it’s only 80 percent effective. There could still be a measles outbreak. People need to one, be an informed consumer and two, stop demonizing those who for medical or religious reasons decline. The main reason for these vaccinations should be between the primary care provider and parent. The county lecturing me isn’t going to be helpful.?
Bies said each parent or guardian they see has a different personal reason for wanting to waive vaccinations for their child or children, but the conversations are helping the health division obtain their objective of higher vaccination rates. He describes the overall tone of the conversations as professional, cordial, respectful and even if there is disagreement, educational for all involved.
‘We have changed some minds,? he said. ‘Some people have changed their minds on the spot and if they brought their child in, some have gone to the clinic to vaccinate their child right then. About a third reported they were interested in receiving vaccinations at a later date. The ultimate goal is to increase immunization rates in the community and reduce the waivers filed. There is a whole spectrum of success here? if they walk in and have 10 reasons not to vaccinate and walk out of session and only have two reasons now, maybe the next conversation they have with their doctor, they change their mind and get their child vaccinated.?