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AAP recommends elimination of nonmedical immunization exemptions for school, day care
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The AAP’s committees on practice and ambulatory medicine, infectious diseases and state government affairs recently released a policy statement that supported current laws and regulations regarding medical exemptions for unvaccinated children, and they urged that nonmedical exemptions be strongly advised against in public settings.
“Although there is a variance for levels of immunization required to generate community immunity specific to each disease and vaccine, it is generally understood that population immunization rates of at least 90% are required, as reflected in the Healthy People 2020 goals,” Geoffrey R. Simon, MD, FAAP, chairman of the AAP’s Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “Certain highly contagious diseases, such as pertussis and measles, require a population immunization rate of greater than or equal to 95% to achieve community immunity.”
The statement provided recommendations to clinicians, school administrators and child care services for differentiating between medical and nonmedical exemptions for immunizations. Simon and other committee members addressed issues that may occur in unvaccinated children regarding health and safety when they are in a setting with other children. The report mentioned that allowances to exemptions from vaccinations in individual children due to allergy, adverse reaction or underlying health condition are acceptable; however, the AAP attests that nonmedical exemptions, including those for religious, philosophical or social beliefs of children’s parents, should discourage admittance to schools and care centers.
The AAP committee wrote that it supports or recommends:
- laws and regulatory measures that require children’s immunization records to attend school and child care to ensure a safe environment;
- medical exemptions to specific immunizations as indicated for individual students;
- public health authorities provide the community with information about child immunization rates in care centers and schools and determine risks to the community’s immunity based on the rates;
- child care centers and schools adhere to state laws and regulations that require current and accurate documentation of appropriate immunization status of students and attendees; and
- all the states and the District of Columbia eliminate nonmedical immunization exemptions of attendees and students using their public health authority.
“Nonmedical exemptions to immunization requirements are problematic because of medical, public health and ethical reasons and create unnecessary risk to both individual people and communities,” Simon and colleagues wrote. – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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