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Tougher policies needed on immunization requirement

Respiratory Care Weekly, October 19, 2006

States that permit more nonmedical exemptions for people to avoid getting immunizations have a higher incidence of whooping cough, according to the October11 Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers concluded that while all states have some immunization guidelines they must meet before children enter school or daycare, the ones that offer looser, personal belief-based exemptions increase individual and community risk to vaccine-preventable diseases.

The role of exemption policies may be especially important for pertussis, which remains present in certain areas of the United States and has been increasing in incidence during the past decade. "States must balance parental autonomy with the tremendous public health benefit of vaccines when considering the types of exemptions allowed and how policies are implemented," said Saad B. Omer, MB, BS, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore.

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