To ask Pre-School if all children are vaccinated?

[TiredMama90]

New account, been off a while.

My DS is 22 months, he will be starting pre school in April.

He is fully vaccinated (even the flu jab).

AIBU to ask the pre school if all children are vaccinated as ideally I'd prefer my DS not to be around unvaccinated children if I can help it.

I can see why your asking, our pre-school also asked us if the kids were vaccinated and which ones they had. In our area lots of parents decided against mmr which lead to multiple measles outbreaks and our gp recommending extra courses of mmr for our kids. Also There is a theory that unvaccinated children can be what is termed Nidus for existing strains of various disease providing a living host for disease to mutate into forms that current vaccination would not be effective against. However your children will be in contact with unvaccinated children and adults outside preschool that you will never know about.
The pre school won’t tell you, though I understand your interest.

I'm a ProVaxxer and don't think it's fair others can let their unvaccinated kids run around with others.

You have no right to other people's medical records.

You have no right to tell others what

Whoops, DS pressed send.

You have no right to tell others what to do.

You'll have to learn to cope in a world in which some people are not vaccinated.

If you had a child with a compromised immune system then I'd see your worry.

My SIL hasn't vaccinated her son and we live in Oz. This means she's lost out on a certain benefit and is out of pocket. It also means she's having trouble finding a nursery which will take him.

My poor MIL worries herself about him getting measles or something. Stupid woman my SIL is.

Your son will be pretty well protected if he's had his jabs, but you are right that protection even for vaccinated kids is improved by herd immunity. So it is

You could try asking the pre-school what their vaccination rate is. I wouldn't have thought that information would be a breach of privacy rights any more than a school stating the percentage of children who qualify for free school meals is. However, as others have said - what are you going to do if, as is almost certain, it isn't 100% (or 95%, since that's the herd immunity target for childhood vaccinations)? If you don't have an answer to this, it's probably not a good idea to ask, it will only feed your worry. Your son is vaccinated, you have taken the action that will most protect him. High vaccination rates around him would be icing, but they aren't the main thing.

There might be some unvaccinated kids. Some due to parental decisions, and some due to delayed vaccination schedules or inability to be vaccinated due to illness/immune system issues. Some may have come from abroad and have different vaccinations. Others may have missed them due to neglect (such as those being fostered/recently adopted). You are not privy to that information.
You have vaccinated your DS therefore you have made sure to protect him as much as you can, and those around him. Including those around him who have not or could not be vaccinated for whatever reason. Well done for doing what you can for herd immunity. You will have to find a different system for allocating a pre school place, however.

You clearly missed some yourself...GoadyVax101

It's incredibly unlikely that all the children will have been vaccinated as none of the vaccines have a 100% take-up rate. You may happen to be in a setting where in fact they all have been - but that's unlikely so to be honest, you may as well assume that wherever you go, there will be a (small usually) number of unvaccinated children.

They would never be able to tell you the confidential medical information of other children.

Bear in mind that your child will mix with some children who can't be vaccinated. So telling you "no not all of the children are vaxed" doesn't tell you anything because you simply can't expect that your child will never mix with people who can't have the vaccination for medical reasons.

Are you ready for your child's medical history to be available to every Tom Dick or Harry who asks? (Please, no comments about the 'sexism' of T, D or H!)

I live in an EU country and here it’s obligatory to show your child’s completed vaccination card before they can join preschool

@TiredMama90
You’ve done the right thing for your child plus other children.
Some parents are stupid or selfish and rely on “herd immunity” ie we vaccinate our children so they feel reasonable sure that their kids protected whilst spouting unsubstantiated conspiracy theories

Why are the extremes (pro or anti) so flipping ridiculous... These sorts of threads are just ridiculous and shows how narrow minded they are

My vaccinated child is very likely to mix with unvaccinated children/adults but I'm not going to shit myself over it and it's none of my business to ask people for their medical history.

Good luck in not having your children be in contact with unvaccinated people... There's plenty out there in the general public and they don't wear badges

Nursery/pre school and now school have never asked me for dds vaccination history. To be honest op I understand why you would want to know, but they wouldn’t tell you if they did know. I highly doubt all the children are vaccinated..which is a bit of a worry but I know dd is fully vaccinated so touch wood should be okay.

Is there a lobbying group for self-declared'Pro-vaxxers' ? because MN seems to have an inordinate amount of aggressive pro-vaxxing threads atm. If you're trying to generate a Daily Mail article about compulsory vaccinations or tying them to benefits then just send them a press release.

It’s totally provax and would support mandatory vaccinations or medical exemptions ( for medical reasons only not “moral” objections) for children to be able to attend childcare and school.

However as you’ve realised you can’t ask for this info. But your DS will be fine if he’s had his vaccinations anyway. And you could meet unvaccinated people anywhere, including places like doctors surgeries which are kind of unavoidable

"(Please, no comments about the 'sexism' of T, D or H!)"

If you don't want comments, don't use the phrase

Love, Thomasine, Richenda and Harriet

Fraying I've noticed this... I myself have vaccinated my child but some of these self proclaimed "pro vaxers" are just fecking annoying and quite obsessive.

Wait until the first parents' evening and just mention that you are unsure about getting, say, a chickenpox vaccination for your DC.
Then just listen, parents who don't vaccinate will just tell you.
No need to ask the nursery management.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable to not want your child around unvaccinated kids but unless it’s a legal requirement to vaccinate before nursery admission (which it should be imo) you won’t be able to find out.

Reassuringly though, you can’t catch stupidity.

To be blunt op, it’s none of your business. The nursery will not tell you either.

a) They won't tell you.

b) Your DC is vaccinated so it so he is protected.
c) FYI It's not just nursery where your DC will come in contact with unvaccinated people.
d) Be reassured that you have done everything you can to protect your DC.
e) Chill.

What about when he goes to school? There will likely be unvaccinated children there and unless you home ed you won’t be able to avoid that (and I guess home Ed groups also have unvaccinated children in them)

Surprised by the responses stating that a child will be fine if they’re vaccinated. Vaccinations are not always effective, it’s why some vaccinations are given twice as this increases the percentage for whom it will be effective, but it won’t be effective for everyone. Usually it means that if a vaccinated person does contract the illness, it’s less severe.

I understand your concerns. One of my sons contracted whooping cough during a long nicu stay and was discharged during the incubation period so he only started to get sick the day after we took him home. I had the jab in pregnancy and it worked for me and his twin but not for him. They said it was less severe than it would have been (he was 8 weeks old and only five pounds with a serious pre-existing illness, I suspect he would not have survived without me having it). He got sick literally three days before their 8 week jabs.

He has an illness that’s exacerbated by even minor bugs and this can lead to a hospital admission. We went to look round two nurseries in December and we all caught norovirus, we managed to keep him out of hospital by the skin of our teeth. After their first week (only two mornings) we all caught an awful cold / cough that’s lasted over a week.

Nurseries are germ factories sadly and when kids start they pick up anything and everything. Hopefully being vaccinated will protect him and I understand wanting to know this but I don’t think they can confirm or deny either way.

and I guess home Ed groups also have unvaccinated children in them

More so than actual schools, in my experience!