Unvaccinated child in school class - help

[lovemyboy507]

Hi - so we have been informed that there “may” be an unvaccinated child (medically exempt) entering into the same class as my son who has CF - it’s a private school so they don’t have to take this child on and we have been with the school for a while. They have asked for our advice and my instant gut is “hell no” I have asked my CF center and they are getting back to me but wondered if anyone here has any thoughts because a) I want to be fair and informed b) I want to protect my little man
Just to be clear I am NOT judging anyone who has chosen to not vaccinate or can’t, but likewise my son is my priority. Thoughts?

 

[kenna2]

Unvaccinated from what? That might help us to know that

 

[lovemyboy507]

Apparently all the required childhood vaccines that you would normally have for entry into kindergarten

 

[Krysm3]

An unvaccinated child is not just walking around carrying diseases. You should be more concerned with the recently vaccinated children around your son shedding the live virus. If your child is vaccinated and vaccines work, your son should be fine. Just know that as far as respiratory, pertussis vaccine isn’t very effective as admitted by the govt. There was an outbreak a couple of years ago at an elementary school near me and non of the unvaccinated children contracted it. It was all vaccinated kids. Vaccinations lower the immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. Also, think about this- most adults are not up to date on vaccines. There were about 50 less vaccines when I was a child and immunity does not last. So the teachers, family members etc whom he is around are considered non vaccinated...unless they got the illness such as chicken pox-like most kids my age did-then you have lifetime immunity. You don’t have that with the vaccine.

 

[Ratatosk]

Hopefully your clinic will get back to you with some advice. I'm assuming the child isn't vaccinated due to personal reasons and the parents are using the religion card to get an exemption and not because the child has an underlying health issue such as an autoimmune disease in which vaccines are sometime ineffective.

Sorry I don't have much advice. DS goes to a public school and even when he was a baby, his daycare center required up to date vaccinations. I do seem to recall in our area that if there was an outbreak or student in school with an illness, that the health department had recommendations regarding unvaccinated children being kept home. In the case of a pertussis epidemic a few years ago, the health department required students in the same classroom to see their doctors and most were put on azithromycin prophylactically before being allowed to go back to class.

 

[Helenlight]

Hi, personally I wouldn't be too concerned about this. You will want to make sure the teacher and parents of the other child are vigilant about keeping the child home if they are presenting with a respiratory infection, but if the child is otherwise well, there is no cause for concern. To my mind, the only things that vaccinations may protect against that could be of concern are pertussis and influenza- which can also be passed on by previously vaccinated children and adults. There will be other children in the class who do not get the yearly influenza vaccine anyway. Our PWCF has some unvaccinated friends, and we just ask for them to let us know if they are unwell, apart from that they play together etc just like any other child.

 

[JensWorld]

I would be concerned, personally. I'm probably in the minority but as I see it children who are not vaccinated are way more likely to get hit with one of the viruses that are coming back into the population because so many are not vaccinating their children anymore. Measles is making a huge comeback and if it or any other once eradicated virus/disease comes to your area, I would not want my CF child hanging out with kids who are not vaccinated. Just my opinion.

 

[Kduffey]

Unvaccinated children’s Do Not pose a threat to anyone,period. You should be aware though that several live virus vaccines DO shed and therefore could pose a risk to your child if he/she is not vaccinated or previously immune. Even with CF the chance of severe illness if he/she contracts a virus is small.
What you should be most vigilant about is keeping the teachers looking out for anyone who is sick,making sure children are washing their hands as frequently as possible and using hand sanitizer in between those times!! My sons teacher is great about letting us know when her students get sick so that we can be extra careful with our son!

 

[Kduffey]

If your child has had measles or the vaccine he/she is most likely immune. The only problem would arise if your child did not produce an immune response to their vaccines in which case YOUR child could pick up the virus and start spreading it around.this is called Secondary vaccine failure.