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.

Timeisanillusion - I don't think you should be forced to give reasons, or feel obliged to, but if you want to be really confident your dd won't be pressurised, I'd just say something like 'possibility of severe allergic reaction' on the form.

Surely if the school is aware of your DDs allergies and its a factor in your decision then that's a reasonable explanation to give.

Venus, I agree with your point that boys should be vaccinated (in fact we paid a lot of money to have our elder 2 DS vaccinated with gardisil). There are many cancers, in both males and females, caused by HPV - not just of the cervix.

The immunity wearing off over time is not a massive issue, certainly not a reason not to protect people against HPVs ten or fifteen years protection is better than none. The younger you are when infected, the greater the risk your body won't clear the virus (leading eventually to cancer in some).

Maybe a booster at 25 or so would be an idea...

The more you give a detailed explanation, the more you will be argued with. Be vague but absolutely firm. Don't engage.

My dd had hers last year. I let her make up her mind. But I had to sign a consent form for it. Her friend refused to get it done and her mum didn't return the consent form but they did get a call incase the form got lost. The school nurse was fine with it and said no problem.

They need written consent to give the vaccinations. I would stand your ground with it OP and just say that you have as a family weighed up all sides and have decided your dd isn't to have it.

Different vaccine. I'm in Scotland, was sent home a consent form for dd (9) to have nasal flu vaccine, we don't want her to have it. The form said that it must be returned whether you ticked the yes or no box. It said if you ticked the "no" box to give a reason why. Underneath, it stated that if the form was not returned that your child could not be immunised, so I binned the form. Because I knew the school would look for something to be returned and an envelope was included, I wrote dd's name on the front of the envelope and sent it back minus the consent from. I put a piece of paper inside stating that consent form would not be returned. I don't know or care what the school nurse will make of this. As far as I'm concerned my dd won't be vaccinated because I haven't returned a consent form and that's all I'm bothered about.

Thinking further, why not give a totally nonsense, spurious reason, e.g "because marmalade is yummy", "because the school nurse is a kangaroo".

I'm sure it's legal to ask, but they're not going to hold a gun to your head until you answer, not in a country like Britain, anyway.

I also didn't want to go into details about why I was declining. What the nurse does with the information, or lack of information, is her problem, not yours.

All immunisation teams have an anaphylaxis kit which contains adrenaline. Presumably your daughter also carries an epi-pen if her allergies are so severe?
No you don't have to legally say, but it does seem precious and obstructive to make such a big deal out of not saying - as other posters have said, feedback is useful to address barriers off the future.

Why in the name of God would you do that? SideofFoot?? I can only assume it's because your actual reasons are equally nonsense and spurious?
Why not just admit to whatever they are and answer a reasonable question reasonably?
Or let your dd do it; she's probably more mature than you are...

The whole point about these forms is that it is data collection. If people really are concerned about allergic reactions they should say so on the form. If enough people do, then the NHS will have to review the content of the vaccine/the information they provide. If you put something stupid or leave it blank then nobody learns anything. And no progress is made.

I totally agree with that Hakluyt.

SideofFoot- can you explain why you didn't want to give a reason? Even a very basic one?

Hakluyt, it's no one's business why I don't want to do it. I'm not interested in data collection.

Fwiw, I object on moral grounds. This vaccine is to stop my daughter passing the disease on to an older person, an older person who could be vaccinated but chooses not to be. The vaccine has a risk, I'm not risking dd for someone else.

I can't be bothered getting into a discussion with the school nurse over this.

I have an issue with putting the reason along side the name if my child (and mine) tbh. Simply Because it's just NOT anonymous.
Who is to say that this information isn't recorded somewhere and could potentially be used for so ething what altogether ?
It means that my reasons are always extremely vague which doesn't hp data collection at all anyway. We had that at primary for the MMR for example.

"This vaccine is to stop my daughter passing the disease on to an older person, an older person who could be vaccinated but chooses not to be."

No it isn't!

I would like to have my DSs vaccinated when they are older. I would also choose the Gardasil vaccine because it vaccinates against 4 rather than just 2.

DH has had a throat cancer scare, and I would prefer to do what I can to protect my sons.

I disagree with you Hakluyt, flu is very rarely dangerous for a child, it's to stop children passing the disease on to older people who cost the nhs a lot of money.

I have a moral objection to this.

Sorry- I thought you were still talking about HPV! And was obviously very puzzled. [ blush!]

But your radon is a very useful one. What's wrong it's giving the NHS data?

How exactly do you imagine the information could be used against you, CarrotandStick?

Sorry hakluyt, I was talking about the flu vaccine that I declined, not the hpv.

I'm not interested in the flu vaccine programme or helping with data.
I'm just interested in protecting my child from a vaccine, for which we can not know the long term side effects for many decades to come.

"I'm not interested in the flu vaccine programme or helping with data."

Can I ask why not?

Hello OP

Just wanted to say that as your DD has allergies, especially ones that might cause anaphylaxis, I'm pretty sure that any vaccine should only be administered in a hospital. My DD also has multiple severe allergies and we also carry 2 epipens at all times. We were advised that vaccines should not be done at the GP surgery but at a hospital clinic, so that any immediate and severe reactions could be dealt with promptly. In our case, a lot of vaccines are cultured using eggs so we have to be very careful. My DD is only just 7 so I'm not sure about the HPV vaccine.

If the school are aware of your DD's allergies, they should be insisting that this is done in a hospital if anywhere. Maybe instead of saying the you'll have it done at the gp, say you'll speak with your DD's allergy team to take their advice on this. I would speak to them anyway, just to make sure the allergy team know you are concerned. My DD's allergy team are really approachable so I hope you are getting a lot of support with this too.

I also have an autoimmune condition, so we have some medical parallels.

good luck with this and as others have said, no one can make you do this. I find it difficult making decisions like this too esp as you are often deciding between two what ifs. what if she reacts badly to the vaccine vs what if she reacts badly to the thing the vaccine is trying to protect against. Its not an easy decision, but it is yours to make and the school cant make you do anything you don't want to.

apologies for my waffle. xxx