Declining the mass H1N1 vaccination
Last week my daughter came home from school and announced that the following week they were all being bussed to the nearest vaccination center so everyone could get the H1N1 shot. My reaction, if I recall correctly, was "Oh HELL no."
I immediately pulled out the form, read it through, then flipped over to the permission section and checked off the "I decline" box. I've also decided that I'm not going to send her to school the day that they do the vaccination. I'm sure that part is a big overreaction on my part, because it's unlikely they'd accidentally send her without our permission and even if she got on the bus, she wouldn't have her Medicare card on her when she arrived at the center so she wouldn't be able to even if she wanted it. Still, my husband and I just feel better about keeping her at home that day and we'll do something educational with her to make up for it.
I want to be clear about something: I am not anti-vaccination. In fact, when my kids were babies, they had all their shots on schedule except for chicken pox, which we decided to skip. I'm also not even anti-H1N1-vaccination. I firmly believe that if the vaccine worries you, you shouldn't get it and if you feel like it would calm your concerns to get it, then you should. I do not judge those who get it and I do not judge those who don't.
The reason I reacted so negatively to this campaign was not necessarily because of the shot itself. The reason I think it's a bad idea is because of the fact that a small number of adults are going to be responsible for a high number of (potentially nervous or even terrified) elementary school students in a busy center full of other large groups.
If we assume that 20 kids per class get vaccinated, that's one teacher - ONE - per 20 kids. I'm a member of both the governing board and the PPO (parent participation organization) so I also know that they were looking for a total of four parent volunteers to come along. Parents were specifically told they are not allowed to accompany their child on the bus or at the center.
How are so few adults going to be able to comfort that many children? Even though a needle isn't the worst pain in the world, most children do get nervous about being stuck with one and might need comforting before, during, and even after it's over. And how are they supposed to watch that many kids for adverse reactions?
It just seems to me that they're asking teachers (who are already woefully underpaid in my opinion anyway) and a few unpaid volunteers to take on a huge responsibility. It's something that I'm just not comfortable with at all. I think it would be less stressful if they could have had the vaccinations done in the school - a familiar place and one where parents could easily pick their child up if need be - in batches. You know, Kindergarten to grade 2 one day, grades 3 and 4 the next, so on.
The thought of packing the whole school from Kindergarten to grade six on a bunch of buses with very few adults to go to a major center full of other people for needles just doesn't seem like the best idea in the world. When I chaperoned a field trip to the Montreal Biodome and Botanical Gardens last year the teacher made sure she had enough parents on the trip so that each adult was assigned four or five children each in order to keep everyone safe. How can they send the entire school with just their teachers and a handful of parents to something like this?
No thanks. I'll pass.
This is an original post for Canada Mom Blogs. Sherry also blogs at Chaos Theory and subjects the online world to her random brain patterns at Twitter under the name Sherina.
