The BBC website reported one Roman Catholic school refusing to allow the vaccinations on its premises - School bans girls from cancer jab & School’s jab ban ‘not justified’ - but the school governors cited concerns about possible side effects rather than any moral objection.
In fact, the first article linked states that the Roman Catholic Church says there is nothing wrong with allowing the cervical cancer vaccinations to be given and quotes a spokeman for the Diocese of Salford as saying “The diocese and Catholic schools board do not have a moral objection, but it is up to individual schools to decide whether to allow the vaccinations to be carried out in school.”
As to the more general topic of jabs in schools, I’m in the UK and got 'em at school and the practice still continues. It’s the easiest way to ensure that as many people as possible get vaccinated.
Regardless, people, spending a couple of hours vaccinating children (with parental permission!) instead of them watching a movie or something isn’t the first step to communism or anarchy or wasteful spending. It sounds like responsible help to busy parents and a burdened health system.
(Let’s not even get into it being none of our problem as Americans.)
I agree that if the school doesn’t provide it, and if you disagree with the church’s decisions, think for yourself, and just go get the vaccine from your doctor. It’s not the first time the church has had an opinion that was fucking stupid.
To correct a few misconceptions, while the shots take place at the school, the school itself is not paying for them, nor providing staff to administer the vaccines. Thus, the Calgary Catholic School District cannot use that money for other items should they decide to opt out of the vaccination program. It is not their money.
The Provincial/Calgary Regional Health Authority nurses bring the vaccines to the school, and the Province pays for both the nurses and the vaccines. The school basically provides an extremely convenient venue for the kids to get their vaccinations. It is much easier, and much faster, to vaccinate one child after another, especially when they need to administer an age-specific vaccine. Other convenient venues in the past have included malls and supermarkets for the flu vaccines.
As a parent, you CAN opt out of getting vaccinations at school. You then make an appointment at a Community Health Centre to get the vaccination. When my son was in Grade Five (the year when the kids get their HepB shots), we chose to have it done at the Health Centre as he has an extreme fear of needles, and we didn’t want him embarrassed in front of his peers.
The problem with doing it that way, as we experienced, is that it can be extremely difficult to get an appointment. Community Health Centres are where every baby and toddler in this city go to get their vaccines, and to have well-baby check-ups. There just isn’t sufficient time in the already-full schedule to accommodate hundreds of extra appointments, which is also true of the already strapped doctors’ offices in this city.
Overall, having the vaccination program take place at schools is a very easy, efficient and practical way to vaccinate a large number of children. It generally works very well, and I think it’s very unfortunate the CSSD has opted out of the program for this vaccination.
Unfortunate is a good word; it will also be unfortunate how many parents will just not bother getting the vaccination for their children because of inconvenience and not wanting to go against their church (the last is the one that really bothers me - the church sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, in my opinion).
We went all over this in our recent anti-vaxxers thread, how everyone gets vaccinated so everyone stays healthy; I don’t know how far back this decision will set eradicating HPV in Alberta, but it has to play a role, with so many children going to Catholic schools.
According to the first post on this page, the school district has opted out because of medical concerns rather than religious ones. I don’t think parents will choose not to vaccinate their kids because a man of the cloth tells them it’s medically contraindicated.
Interesting. Did you know that in the US, you cannot opt out of mandatory vaccines as a parent because of medical objections? They have to be religious ones, and not even “spiritual” or “philosophical”. If the word “God” doesn’t appear on the waiver request, it’s denied.
In case your page settings are such that an earlier post of mine is first in this page, I should clarify that the BBC is reporting about a school in England. Probably should have made that clear in the original post.
To clarify, this post of yours is referencing Kal’s post, not my OP, right? The Catholic schools in Greater Manchester are saying they object on grounds of questions about the safety of the vaccination (which, in my opinion, is also bullshit).
This is the reason given by the Calgary Catholic School Board in my OP:
Yeah, see my post above- I thought Kal was talking about Canadian bishops, not English ones.
I totally agree that the Calgary board’s opinion is bullshit. However, I don’t know that I can totally get behind Pitting them over it; if you send your kid to a parochial school, you kind of have to deal with it when it turns out that their policies are… well, parochial.
Yeah, but the option is still there for parents to get their kids vaccinated. Yes, it would have been more convenient if the school had agreed to it, but since it won’t, I don’t see a reason for a parent to not get their daughter vaccinated just because they might have to wait for an appointment. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and if sitting in a waiting room for two hours so your daughter can get a vaccine that might save her life is the price to pay, then dammit, you can do it. It’s not like the vaccine is unavailable…it just takes a bit more effort to get it.
For clairtys sake - the Calgary Catholic School Board offers every other vaccine - same as the Calgary Public Board. The have no objection to HepB, Chicken Pox, MMR.
It’s only this vaccine - this vaccine which prevents women from getting CANCER - that they object to.
That is because they are short sighted asshats. The level of ignorance displayed is shocking.
Generally through their county’s or state’s health department, at least in Minnesota. Those agencies are charged with protecting the public health, and that includes vaccinations.
Not sure what they’re doing about Gardasil, though.
Would a Canadian school have to pay for it?