- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,608
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 228
Ottawa Public Health is speaking out against an Orléans daycare that offers parents a “vaccine-free environment” for their children.
Melissa Abekah says her east-end daycare is designed for children who have been vaccinated. It also boasts organic meals and bilingual service.
Abekah and her husband, Paapa, chose not to vaccinate their own daughter after researching vaccines. The couple told CBC News they don’t trust the ingredients contained in vaccines.
The Abekahs also say children who are vaccinated carry a virus for at least 30 days and thus, could pass it on to other children. But that’s not an issue at their home daycare, they say, because none of the children have been vaccinated.
Ottawa Public Health officials, however, say measles is a highly-transmittable disease that can have serious side effects. A vaccine-free environment could potentially be at a higher risk because the measles virus would circulate quickly among the children.
The Orléans centre opens at a time when some believe that parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their children against measles are contributing the recent outbreaks.
No measles cases have been reported in Ottawa, according to the public health department, but there are six confirmed cases in Toronto.
Although the public health department opposes the new centre’s “vaccine-free environment” there is not much else it can do.
The province’s Day Nursuries Act, which governs the child care sector, requires that children enrolled at licensed centres are immunized as recommended by the local medical officer of health.
But this does not apply in cases where a child’s parent objects in writing based on religious or philosophical reasons or on the advice of a qualified medical practitioner.
It is not clear if the Abekah’s daycare is licensed, nor is it known how many children attend it. Attempts to reach them on Saturday were not successful.
Operating an unlicensed child-care centre is legal in Ontario, but the provincial government last year changed the regulations to force unlicensed providers to follow the same rules as licensed providers for relevant age groupings.
Unlicensed providers must also now count their own children under the age of six toward the maximum number of children permitted in care, which is five.
Although OPH says vaccination saves lives and prevents serious illnesses, it does admit on its website that every medical intervention has risks, including vaccination. But, it notes, serious side effects are rare.
Most of the diseases commonly vaccinated against in Canada are rare now, but they still exist and could return if parents stop vaccinating their children, OPH says.
By the age of two, children should be vaccinated against a range of diseases and viruses, including whooping cough, polio, rotavirus, tetanus, influenza, chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella, meningococcal, the public health department says.
Vaccines to prevent many of these diseases are often administered in the same dose.
Recommended vaccines for older children include hepatitis B and, for girls, human papillomavirus (HPV-4).
A yearly flu vaccine is recommended for adults.
The existence of the vaccine-free Ottawa daycare comes as a measles outbreak in Toronto continues to grow.
That city’s public health department says there are six, lab-confirmed cases in two children under the age of two and four adults.
Meanwhile, a poll released this week showed two-third of Ontarians surveyed believe child-care facilities should refuse unvaccinated children
The Mainstreet Technologies random sample of 3,022 Ontario residents, conducted by interactive voice response (IVR) on Feb. 4, also found 58 per cent of those polled do not believe parents should be able to decided against vaccinating their children.
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
Melissa Abekah says her east-end daycare is designed for children who have been vaccinated. It also boasts organic meals and bilingual service.
Abekah and her husband, Paapa, chose not to vaccinate their own daughter after researching vaccines. The couple told CBC News they don’t trust the ingredients contained in vaccines.
The Abekahs also say children who are vaccinated carry a virus for at least 30 days and thus, could pass it on to other children. But that’s not an issue at their home daycare, they say, because none of the children have been vaccinated.
Ottawa Public Health officials, however, say measles is a highly-transmittable disease that can have serious side effects. A vaccine-free environment could potentially be at a higher risk because the measles virus would circulate quickly among the children.
The Orléans centre opens at a time when some believe that parents who are choosing not to vaccinate their children against measles are contributing the recent outbreaks.
No measles cases have been reported in Ottawa, according to the public health department, but there are six confirmed cases in Toronto.
Although the public health department opposes the new centre’s “vaccine-free environment” there is not much else it can do.
The province’s Day Nursuries Act, which governs the child care sector, requires that children enrolled at licensed centres are immunized as recommended by the local medical officer of health.
But this does not apply in cases where a child’s parent objects in writing based on religious or philosophical reasons or on the advice of a qualified medical practitioner.
It is not clear if the Abekah’s daycare is licensed, nor is it known how many children attend it. Attempts to reach them on Saturday were not successful.
Operating an unlicensed child-care centre is legal in Ontario, but the provincial government last year changed the regulations to force unlicensed providers to follow the same rules as licensed providers for relevant age groupings.
Unlicensed providers must also now count their own children under the age of six toward the maximum number of children permitted in care, which is five.
Although OPH says vaccination saves lives and prevents serious illnesses, it does admit on its website that every medical intervention has risks, including vaccination. But, it notes, serious side effects are rare.
Most of the diseases commonly vaccinated against in Canada are rare now, but they still exist and could return if parents stop vaccinating their children, OPH says.
By the age of two, children should be vaccinated against a range of diseases and viruses, including whooping cough, polio, rotavirus, tetanus, influenza, chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella, meningococcal, the public health department says.
Vaccines to prevent many of these diseases are often administered in the same dose.
Recommended vaccines for older children include hepatitis B and, for girls, human papillomavirus (HPV-4).
A yearly flu vaccine is recommended for adults.
The existence of the vaccine-free Ottawa daycare comes as a measles outbreak in Toronto continues to grow.
That city’s public health department says there are six, lab-confirmed cases in two children under the age of two and four adults.
Meanwhile, a poll released this week showed two-third of Ontarians surveyed believe child-care facilities should refuse unvaccinated children
The Mainstreet Technologies random sample of 3,022 Ontario residents, conducted by interactive voice response (IVR) on Feb. 4, also found 58 per cent of those polled do not believe parents should be able to decided against vaccinating their children.
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
