Fwd: FW: [NVIC] TX Parents Battle to Protect Exemption

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Fri, 18 Jul 2003 17:31:49 -0800

Sandy Mintz

FW: [NVIC] TX Parents Battle to Protect Exemption

 

 

 

 

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Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org

 

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

 

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To view the testimony from the TX public health committee go to:

http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/broadcasts.php?session=78 & cmte=410

 

There was testimony given in the morning and also for about 1 hour in the

afternoon session on 7/10/03.

 

http://www.amarillonet.com/ns-search/stories/071303/new_newimmunization.shtm

l?NS-search-set=/3f12b/aaaa2580612b0b7 & NS-doc-offset=1 &

 

Amarillo Globe-News

New immunization law creates rift

July 13, 2003

By George Schwarz/george.schwarz

 

 

An attempt to repeal a new law that broadened exemptions for immunizations

required for school prompted emotional testimony Thursday in Austin.

 

The law, which passed as part of a health reorganization measure, added a

so-called conscientious, or philosophical, objection to medical and

religious grounds for allowing unvaccinated children into schools and

day-care centers.

 

Rep. Jaime Capelo, the Corpus Christi Democrat who chairs the House Public

Health Committee, wants to roll back the measure.

 

He said at Thursday's committee hearing the measure slipped into the larger

bill without proper legislative process.

 

But Dawn Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education,

the group pushing the wider exemptions, said Capelo bottled up the bill.

 

" They're acting like 'Oh, this got snuck on, " ' she said. " We've had a bill

filed on this three sessions in a row. It still went through the voting

process. "

 

Richardson, who verbally jousted with Capelo during her testimony, said

rolling back the philosophical exemption would cause mayhem because there

would be a period of time during which the exception would apply before

ending again.

 

The issue is parental rights, not pro or con vaccines, and Texas parents

should have the same rights as parents in each of the surrounding states

that make it easier for the philosophical exemption, she said.

 

But data from one of those states illustrate the risk of increasing the

population of unvaccinated children, said Dr. David Smith, chancellor of the

Texas Tech University System.

 

Data from Colorado demonstrates that with a higher percentage of the

population having philosophical exemptions comes a 22- to 35-fold increase

in diseases such as whooping cough.

 

" It isn't as simple as everyone would like to think, " said Smith, also a

pediatrician and former commissioner of health. " We're all part of what we

now call the herd community. "

 

Immunizations provide the so-called herd immunity because the more a

population has protection from a disease, the less likely the illness would

spread, said Dr. Fredrick McCurdy, the new regional chairman of the

Pediatrics Department at the Texas Tech Medical School.

 

But Richardson and others said the medical community skewed the data and

accused doctors of ejecting parents from their practices if they don't agree

to immunizations.

 

One of those was Dr. Clayton Young, who opposed the bill, and said he went

through medical school believing that immunization was good.

 

" We had twins that had vaccine rash associated with their two-, four- and

six-month shots, and my wife worked a number of years to convince me that

that was the case. Being a board-certified obstetrician and mainline

physician, it took a while for me to catch on, " Young said.

 

But the big scare for him was his 4-year-old's serious reaction to another

vaccine and a subsequent episode when his pediatrician later triggered

another episode by giving an immunization, he said.

 

Smith said patients and physicians need to talk about concerns and safety,

and those discussions can't be legislated.

 

Reactions to vaccines are rare, said McCurdy, who didn't speak directly to

the legislation.

 

People may not want to take the one-in-a-million chance for their children

to have a reaction from the vaccine, but in making that decision it creates

a large pool of children vulnerable to illness, and " if those illnesses take

hold in our country again, they are going to start killing kids, " McCurdy

said.

 

Parents who don't immunize their children are responsible for what happens

to their children and others who could be unprotected from a preventable

disease, he said.

 

" I'm not saying that those parents are wrong, " he said. " I'm not saying that

we ought to punish people for making that decision, but for every decision

that we make in life, and I will make this generalization, there are

consequences. And if you're unwilling to accept the consequences, then don't

make the choice. "

 

How the Amarillo Independent School District will handle the rules, whatever

they are, will depend on the final legislation, said Becky McIlraith,

communications director.

 

" We have, as a society, come to expect certain things - that we can prevent

illness and there's no risk at all to doing that, " McCurdy said. " And

there's no situation in life that has that kind of guarantee. "

 

 

 

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Sandy Mintz

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