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Vaccine exemptions and private schools – what are the facts?

As measles outbreaks – centered on unvaccinated children – continue to pop up in areas with low vaccine rates,  one approach private schools and daycares reach to is keeping out unvaccinated children. An Ohio Jewish school announced it will not accept unvaccinated children, and I know other private facilities are considering this. So what does this all mean with respect to vaccine exemptions within private schools?

Note that this is a separate issue than the question of whether unvaccinated children can be kept home during an outbreak. All states have a provision in law to keep unvaccinated children at home during an outbreak, and some of the affected states – like New York – are doing that. Read More »Vaccine exemptions and private schools – what are the facts?

Maryland private schools can exclude unvaccinated children

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy and the law. 

Professor Reiss writes extensively in law journals about the social and legal policies of vaccination. Additionally, Reiss is also member of the Parent Advisory Board of Voices for Vaccines, a parent-led organization that supports and advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine-preventable disease.

A recurring question that comes up is whether a private school or daycare can increase its safety from disease by refusing to accept unvaccinated children. Generally speaking, private schools and daycares can reject or accept children for whatever reason it wants. If  the school accept federal funds it cannot, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discriminate based on “race, color, or national origin.” But that’s it.

However, some laws enacting exemptions from immunization requirements are phrased in ways that suggest that private institutions are required to accept exempt children. This varies from state to state. Read More »Maryland private schools can exclude unvaccinated children