The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society recently issued a position statement that “opposes any legislation or regulation that would allow children to be exempted from mandatory immunizations based simply on their parents’, or in the case of adolescents, their own, secular personal beliefs.”
In the statement, Christopher J. Harrison, MD, of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and others, including Infectious Diseases in Children Editorial Board member Paul A. Offit, MD, said any legislation being considered should contain certain provisions; notably, that parents who are claiming exemptions be given counseling about the importance of immunization to their own child, as well as the community overall, and that parents would have to sign a statement that they understand the risks of not immunizing their child.
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