New paper on homeschooled kids and vaccinations
Art Caplan and Donya Khalili -- a student at UPenn School of Law -- write in the latest issue of The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics about strengthening the systems set up to ensure homeschooled kids get their shots. Here's the abstract:
To protect public health, states require that parents have their children immunized before they are permitted to attend public or private school. But for homeschooled children, the rules vary. With the spectacular growth in the number of homeschooled students, it is becoming more difficult to reach these youth to ensure that they are immunized at all. These children are frequently unvaccinated, leaving them open to infection with diseases that are all but stamped out in the United States with immunization requirements. States should encourage parents to get their homeschooled students vaccinated through enacting the same laws as those used for public school students. This could be done by enforcing current laws through neglect petitions or by requiring that children be immunized before participating in school sponsored programs. As most states require some filing to allow parents to homeschool their children, it would be easy to enact laws requiring that homeschooled children be immunized or exempted before completing registration.
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The homeschooling movement consists mainly of highly devoted and informed parents who go above and beyond the typical call of "parenthood." It seems forcing anything on such a group through legislation would prove to be a long, heated, uphill battle. Perhaps education is a better choice than legislation.
- by Martin on Nov 19, 2007 at 3:27 PM | link
It depends on whether you want to let parents expose their children to severe health risks or not--as many in this group are clearly opting to do. I don't think they are doing it out of ignorance but as a choice. Just like parent who choose to smoke around their children generally know resreach has linked smoking and cancer--they have just chosen not to believe it.
- by emily on Nov 20, 2007 at 9:33 AM | link
It seems forcing anything on such a group through legislation would prove to be a long, heated, uphill battle.
- by Alex on Nov 21, 2007 at 3:26 AM | link
Less so when you can raise the 'fairness' issue. Kids in schools have to do it, why not kids in home schools?
- by emily on Nov 21, 2007 at 11:02 AM | link
Emily, that argument won't fly. The whole point of homeschooling is for homeschooled kids not to be required to have the same experiences as public-schooled kids.
If homeschoolers are to be required to be vaccinated, the argument must be made on grounds of public health. If a compelling argument can't be made on those grounds, they probably need to leave that alone.
- by Laura(southernxyl) on Nov 21, 2007 at 8:03 PM | link