I have declined the HPV vaccine for my daughter - school nurse demands I give reasons why - is this legal?

[TimeIsAnIllusion]

I have declined the HPV vaccine for my daughter. Do I have to explain the reasons why on the form? I received a telephone call from the school nurse saying I must but I don't wish to explain myself. If the vaccine is offered I have a right to decline surely - so must I give a good enough reason to decline?

I don't know who the information will be passed on to and how my reasoning will be judged or considered. I just want to politely and quietly take the "no thanks" option without being pressed as to why.
By the way I my dd has had all other childhood vaccines but it's this particular one I'm not happy for her to have.

orange
I agree to a certain degree.

however everyone has to make the decision themselves. and in the op's case there are very good reasons for not vaccinating at this stage.
fwiw my dc are still small, but I'm still unsure if I want them to have this vaccine as it's not uncontroversial scientifically. we will see how the stance is in a few year's time.

I don't understand why you don't just say you are concerned about allergies. How is that super secret information? Plus surely if your daughter is prone to allergic reactions that IS something the school should know anyway?

Allergies aren't the only concern we have about this vaccine, they are a part of the decision not to vaccinate just now.
orangeanddemons we have taken up all other vaccines offered to date. We are after much research and thinking rejecting this vaccine for the moment. We are not anti vaccine per se. My son for instance happily took part in a pre school vaccination trial - I really wanted him to have his vaccinations before starting pre school to protect him from commom childhood illness.

workingbling the school are aware of my daughters allergies.

How about just no? I am surprised at the level of scolding on this thread.

The Men B vaccine is only offered privately here.

I was a school nurse til the end of last year and have given this vaccine.
If you don't want DD to have you are well within your rights to refuse. You don't legally have to give a reason but we always ask just in case we can clear up any misunderstanding about the vaccine.
Wrt allergic reactions, all school nurses carry adrenaline at vaccination sessions and are trained how to use it. School nurses are fully trained and registered the same as hospital nurses.
Children can consent to their own vaccines as long as they are 'gillick competent'. I can't speak for other areas of the uk, but in my area there would be many 12 year olds that we would consider competent. We never used to even send for children when the parents had declined.

Just following on from some other comments, school nurses are NOT part of the school. They are employed by the health authority and usually go in as and when needed.

Aargh typo!
Would NOT be many 12 year olds that should read!

Leaving it til 18 is, frankly, ridiculous.

I work with NHS IT systems. The Child Health Information data base (which is used to record all the HV/SN checks, consent and Imms given) won't allow a 'no consent' to be entered for HV without also entering a reason.

It is not straight forward to get the HPV vaccine at your GP as many areas only offer it for year 8 cohorts.

It's a non sequitur, charley.

There are many strains of HPV, mint. Some are involved in most cases of cervical cancer, others cause genital warts.

bullets
Where I live if the girls don't have the hpv vaccine at school then they don't get it all. Gp's do not give it here as they are not commissioned to.

Not that it is any of your business JustTheRightBullets my child did not present with any allergies prior to having other childhood vaccines. That didn't cross your mind?
It is possible to get some vaccines as a private prescription from a private Dr.
Hakylut the NHS did not offer my older daughter the vaccine until she was 18 (it wasn't available prior to this age) are you saying quite frankly you feel they were ridiculous to do this?
SorrelForbes it seems ridiculous for the computer system to not have a tick box for "reason for consent/non consent" not given. That is a failing on the intelligence of the person who designed the computer system.
It is not a legal requirement to give a reason therefore the computer system needs to cater for this.
This reminds me of a child who's parent did not divulge ethnic background on school forms only to be handed a copy of information on the system to check at secondary school and discovered "somebody" had filled in Caucasian on their behalf. It was incorrect as it happens. When questioned the school said - oh but there's no box on the computer system if you don't answer the question so we just guess.

JustTheRightBullets quite possibly as GP funding is set up for the year 8 cohort only. There is a catch up programme for those who consent but miss the injection due to absence from school on the day. I suspect that you may need to pay to have the vaccination at a later time.

I am really pro vaccination and so far my DC have had all offered vacs. This one really worries me though because of these incidences of children being vaccinated against their parents wishes.

My friend declined for her daughter as she was poorly with a virus on the day of the vaccination. The school made her line up anyway and she was too embarrassed to say anything so was vaccinated. She ended up being tube fed for a year afterwards and now has severe chronic fatigue syndrome which has put a stop on her being able to go to University. It absolutely could be a coincidence. The authorities were very quick to deny any link but off the record many medical professionals said they feel she shouldn't have been vaccinated whilst she was unwell.

That is not to say I believe there is any risk to a well child getting this vaccine.

TimeIsAnIllusion there is usually the functionality to add 'unknown' to the drop down list of choice for refusing consent. However, I've never seen one for 'parent refuses to give reason for refusing consent'. That's not to say it couldn't be added but to date I've never come across this scenario.

Personally I think it's important to record descriptive reasons to better inform public health programmes of the future. The reason given in my above paragraph doesn't really inform anything.

SorrelForbes then the "unknown" box would suffice for parents not wishing to write all their reasons down. The health authority would not know the reasons the parents refused consent therefore "unknown" is the best box to check.

Please don't leave it to 18, OP. Just don't.

"My friend declined for her daughter as she was poorly with a virus on the day of the vaccination. The school made her line up anyway and she was too embarrassed to say anything so was vaccinated. She ended up being tube fed for a year afterwards and now has severe chronic fatigue syndrome which has put a stop on her being able to go to University. "

Let's go in for a bit of scaremongering, now shall we?