Worries the anti-vaccine movement will grow in Lower Mainland
Posted November 24, 2014 5:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – With the anti-vaccination movement still strong in some parts of the Lower Mainland, would you want to know if other kids at your child’s daycare haven’t been immunized?
Parents will never get to make that choice because privacy laws prevent it.
Most of the deaths from preventable, communicable diseases like Whooping Cough are in very young babies. Often, the virus is transmitted to them by a family member.
A survey from the University of Michigan has found three quarters of parents would pull their kids out of daycare if they found out kids there have not been vaccinated.
Executive Director of the Early Childhood Educators of BC Emily Mlieczko says all they can do is ask parents to provide vaccination history. “What a program will do, or is responsible for doing under those regulations is informing the health authorities if there’s an outbreak and informing the families as well.”
A provider can decide not to take on kids that aren’t up-to-date, or they may ask the parent of a child who isn’t vaccinated to sign a waiver. Mlieczko suggests you ask your provider what their policy is.
The vast majority of kids in BC are being immunized, unlike in the US where rates hover near just 70 per cent. But Mlieczko worries the anti-vaccination movement could grow here.
“I know this comes up in a lot of discussions. Way more now than it ever has before in the past in my time as an early childhood educator. I see tonnes of things on social media that really aren’t based on scientific evidence so I encourage them to go and talk to their family doctor.”
