Mississippi Parent Group Working to Make It Easier to Get Sick

In the United States, every state has some manner of requirements for immunizations before children are allowed to attend schools or day care. They vary from state to state, with some requiring almost all of the vaccinations on the recommended immunization schedule, while others only require a smaller subset. Each state decides which ones they will require, and which they simply recommend. As with any medical intervention, there may be medical reasons that a person should not receive a vaccine. Usually, this is something like an allergic reaction to a previous immunization or one of the ingredients or because at the time the shot would normally have been given, the patient had an illness which contraindicated the vaccine. In other instances, the child may have a chronic disease or disorder that prevents safe immunization. Because of this, every state allows for medical exemptions to school immunization requirements. Nearly all states allow for a religious exemption, with Mississippi and West Virginia being the odd ones out. A smaller proportion of states allow for a broader sort of exemption: the philosophical (or personal belief) exemption. Like the laws requiring immunization, these exemptions vary by state (a map of which states allow which type of exemptions can be found at the Institute for Vaccine Safety).

As I mentioned, Mississippi and West Virginia are unlike the rest of the country, in that they only allow for medical exemptions from school and day care immunization requirements. However, a recent report in the Clarion Ledger discusses the efforts of one organization to change the law in Mississippi, by trying to pass legislation that would establish a philosophical exemption in that state.