L.I. Mother Says Vaccine Controversy May Keep Daughter Out Of School
UPDATED 11/14/14 12:17 p.m.
SOUND BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The mother of an 8-year-old Sound Beach girl said her daughter is being kicked out of school because of a controversy over a recent change in state regulations on immunizations.
Jamie McNicholas said her daughter Ceili is among a small percentage of kids who got all their vaccinations for pertussis, also known as whooping cough, under the age of 4. Now the state is requiring a booster shot for those kids.
"I got a call from the school in September saying she needed another vaccine in order to be compliant with this new regulation," McNicholas told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera.
But McNicholas said her pediatrician told her the only booster available is for children 10 and older.
"The manufacturer put a guideline on things for a reason," she told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall. "I don't feel that because there is no vaccine available, just giving them the ones for the older kids -- it's not the answer."
So without the shot, she said her third-grader was told to stay home from the Laddie A. Decker Sound Beach School starting Monday.
"I got a letter in the mail stating if she does not get her DTaP (vaccination) by this Friday, that she will not be allowed back to school come this Monday the 17th," she said.
McNicholas said her daughter loves her teachers and the kids in her class and "doesn't want to be home-schooled."
"It made me sad the other night that she was crying before she went to bed that she doesn't want to get kicked out of school," McNicholas said.
The school district said it is only enforcing the regulation set by the state, Hall reported.
A spokesman for the State Department of Health said the vaccination requirements for school entrance are based on the recommendations of U.S. Public Health Service's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
The spokesman also noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) endorses the ACIP recommendation.
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