While there are vaccination requirements for children in Washington State, exemptions are easy to obtain.
The Washington State Department of Health requires a certificate of immunization for most children to enter school or daycare. Certain vaccinations are only required for preschoolers, and others vaccines are required for school-age children.
Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps, and rubella are all diseases that can be prevented by vaccination, which are required for both children in preschool, day care, and elementary school in Washington State.
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Washington State also offers a certificate of exemption that allows parents to opt out of vaccination for “personal, philosophical, or religious beliefs” as well as medical reasons. This is a much more generous policy than many states, which merely offer only religious and medical exemptions.
A signature from a parent or guardian is required on the form to mark that they understand the child will be pulled from school in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease that is preventable by vaccination. They also must initial on the understanding that failing to give vaccines, “may result in serious illness, disability or death to my child or others.”
Medical exemptions can be granted for children with a “medical contraindication to a vaccine.” These exemptions require a health provider signature.
Children who have developed blood immunity to the disease (usually because they have already had it) can also show this with a blood test and receive an exemption from the requirement for the vaccination.
Washington State has had some problems with vaccine preventable diseases. It experienced an outbreak of whooping cough in 2015.
The Seattle Times, in April of that year, reported nearly six times as many cases in 2015 than in the same time frame of 2014.
In 2012, the whooping cough situation was considered at “epidemic” levels.
Healthcare professionals recommend, not only children, but also pregnant women be vaccinated against this disease.
Children are recommended to receive a vaccination against whooping cough, also called pertussis, before they reach school age and again when they are teens. Whooping cough can be life-threatening.
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