Saturday, January 3, 2015

Flu Shots for Preschoolers in NYC - yet parent-friendly information hard to find


No need to look back to the introduction of the polio vaccine in the 1950s to know that, for many parents, the issue of vaccinating their child is fraught. What childhood vaccines to give? When? What's the evidence?   There's a robust anti-vaccine movement that uses straight talk, convincing stories and impassioned celebrities to argue against everything from MMRs to HPV and, yes, the polio vaccine too.  Paul Offit's Deadly Choices: How The Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All,
or Nadja Durbach's Bodily Matters, discussing the anti-vaccine movement in the US and Britain respectively are good reads.
Yesterday the NYT (1/2/14) reported that roughly 150,000 children in city-licensed day care centers and preschools must be vaccinated against the flu when they return to school next week. 
This morning I couldn't find any information, let alone a parent-friendly explanation, of the new requirement  on the NYC Dept. of Ed website.  There are things like “Family Activities for Winter Break”, “the Big Apple Awards”, and even “Ebola Virus Information.”

Can someone share the link  (or copy) of the letter parents received concerning this? Thanks.

 

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