Thanks Rosemary and Tanya!
I guess the situation with children is what made me suddenly wonder
what the situation with *adults* would be. There are been several
well-publicized cases where a child was taken away because of the
parents' insistence on using non-mainstream methods for their child's
serious illness. I'm glad to hear that at least we (still) have the
right to make such decisions for ourselves, if not necessarily for our
children (sigh...).
Tanya, re places apt to be more receptive to alternative choices,
sometimes one can be surprised...
We used to live in Berkeley, CA (near San Francisco), and when my
non-vaccinated first was starting school, I assumed that her status
might raise a few eyebrows, but not be a big deal. Actually, tho, when
our local school staff (nurse and office workers) heard of it, they
pretty much treated me like the lowest of child molesters. There were
signs all over the school stating that "Your Child Must Be Fully
Vaccinated before entering school", and when at a pre-registration
parent meeting I raised my hand and said that, "Actually, if you choose
not to vaccinate, you just need to get that form from your doctor, to
submit instead of vaccination record"... Well, some major dirty looks
shot my way from the front. Nothing life-threatening, and they *did*
have to take on my kid, but it was really unpleasant... So when we
moved to the little village where we now live, in Wisconsin, and went
to register our second child at school, I was a bit nervous! But by
contrast, at the pre-registration parent meeting *that* school nurse
announced, in very matter-of-fact tones, that anyone who chose to not
have their child vaccinated, need only sign the other form,
conveniently printed on the reverse of the vaccination record. Go
figure... Yes it was six years later, but still!
Shannon