Delaware is among the states that allow vaccination exemptions on medical and religious grounds for a child to attend school. The state offers detailed guidelines for religious exemptions, which include providing school and public health authorities with a notarized affidavit.
While requests for medical exemptions must include a written statement from a doctor, parents who object to vaccination because of their religious beliefs can sign an affidavit themselves. However, the notarized document includes affirming “a belief in a relation to a supreme being involving duties superior to those arising from any human relation,”
according to the National Vaccine Information Center.
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Some states allow exemptions based on personal or philosophical objections, which some critics believe causes an increase in exemptions. The detailed affidavit required in Delaware specifies that the exemption request is for religious reasons. The form also states: “This belief is not a political, sociological or philosophical view of a merely personal moral code.”
Medical exemptions are allowed if vaccines increase the risk of harm to a child. Allergies or other medical conditions could cause detrimental reactions from vaccines for these children.
State law also makes it clear that unvaccinated children will not be allowed in schools during periods of epidemics or outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. The exclusions are temporary until the threat of disease has been resolved. Children are allowed to keep up with school work through assignments at home.
Delaware has a higher rate of immunization than the national average,
according to The News Journal. Nearly 95 percent of children under age 3 had received the measles vaccine in 2013. More than 98 percent had the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines, and more than 92 percent received the chicken pox vaccine.
These rates are above the necessary 92-percent rate, considered to provide community protection. The “herd immunity” concept means there are enough vaccinated children to protect those who cannot receive vaccines or have weak immune systems.
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Delaware Gov. Jack Markell stated the rules and regulations on immunization encourage as many parents as possible to have their children vaccinated.
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