Refusal of vaccinations: how to write to accept children into kindergarten, and whether they are accepted by law, in what cases they will accept them without vaccination, as well as a form and example of an objection

Is it necessary to do it?

The opinion of medical workers on this issue is clear - vaccinations are mandatory, and the only contraindication is medical withdrawal. Vaccination cannot be carried out :

for any aggravated disease;
at high temperature;
with poor weight gain;
allergies;
disorders of the nervous system;
pressure;
hyper- or hypotonicity of muscles;
chronic diseases;
in case of severe psychological stress (entering kindergarten is also a stress factor);
sudden changes in the child’s usual living conditions.

Additional information about which vaccinations a child should receive and which ones should not be given can be obtained through a consultation with an immunologist and an immunological test. In this case, you can selectively vaccinate only against those diseases with which you are most likely to get sick.

From a legal point of view, parents can refuse any medical interventions for their child, including vaccinations.

Read more about whether vaccination is needed for kindergarten.

Consequences of refusal, responsibility

The ability for parents to make their own decision about vaccination is their right, but it is also a responsibility, so it is necessary to be aware of the possible consequences.

The first thing that refuses parents are intimidated by is the likelihood that the child will get sick.
This issue is controversial and ambiguous. Under favorable sanitary conditions the risk is not that great. However, if this issue still worries you, then you can get vaccinated partially, according to an individual schedule, against those viruses that are most common.
Vaccinations against polio, rubella, measles, mumps, tuberculosis, and DPT prevent the most common diseases.
Another difficulty that parents of unvaccinated children face is difficulties in enrolling in kindergarten. And although these obstacles are unreasonable, parents need to be prepared to overcome them.
Vaccination is also carried out in kindergarten. This may result in an unvaccinated child being removed from the group for up to 60 days. By law, parents can write a statement that they refuse to leave the group, taking responsibility themselves, but most often health workers try to prevent this because they fear the possible consequences.
And the most distant consequences that you may encounter are the inability to apply for certain positions or travel to certain countries.

Medical indications for refusing vaccinations

For a certain category of children, vaccinations are prohibited based on diagnosis or contraindications. In most cases, medical withdrawal is a temporary measure to protect the baby. This is an official document that is issued for kindergarten and is a legal replacement for certificate form 063.

Among the lifelong contraindications to vaccination in a child:

Individual intolerance to one of the components of the vaccine, which is accompanied by a severe allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock, Quincke's edema, convulsions);
Encephalopathy after birth trauma or infections;
Oncological diseases;
Immunodeficiency , in which the introduction of live pathogens of polio, mumps, measles and rubella is strictly prohibited;
Chronic anemia;
Severe CNS lesions.

There is a list of temporary contraindications. A medical exemption is issued only for the duration of treatment or until the problem is eliminated:

Body temperature above 37°C immediately on the day of drug injection;
Signs of an inflammatory process during a follow-up examination by a pediatrician (redness of the throat, runny nose, wheezing in the bronchi);
Acute respiratory diseases (for ARVI and influenza, you must refrain from administering the vaccine for at least 4 weeks);
Past intestinal infection (rotavirus, salmonellosis);
Blood or plasma transfusion;
Completed course of immunosuppressive therapy;
Stressful situation experienced by the child;
Moving to a different climate zone;
Low hemoglobin.

A temporary exception is made for this category of children. After 3-4 weeks, they are re-examined by a pediatrician and can receive routine vaccinations on an individual schedule.

For a certain category of children, vaccinations are prohibited based on diagnosis or contraindications. In most cases, medical withdrawal is a temporary measure to protect the baby.

Are you accepted into kindergarten?

Many parents who decide to refuse vaccination face problems when enrolling in preschool institutions. This situation arises from the belief that an unvaccinated child can infect other vaccinated children. Below are documents that confirm the illegality of such a refusal.

Since 2014, the situation has become even more complicated with the entry into force of new sanitary and epidemiological rules “Prevention of Tuberculosis”.

According to the new rules, children's organizations do not have the right to accept children who have not been examined for tuberculosis. In this case, you must provide a certificate from a TB doctor stating that the child is healthy.

Refusal of vaccination after registration

After completing the paperwork, the child receives the legal right to attend a child care facility. Parents can notify the institution’s medical workers that they are against further vaccination of the baby.

The application can be written according to the established template, as well as in free form..

When filling out the refusal form, you should adhere to the following rules:

Enter information about the child and parents in full. Mistakes are not allowed.
The residential address is written without abbreviations. This is the principle used to write your full name.
Indicate the vaccinations that are being refused. It is recommended that you ask your pediatrician about vaccines used at this age.
Specify the validity period of the waiver (for example, one year).
Write that the decision was deliberate.
Write down a list of laws giving the right to refuse immunization.
Describe the reasons for the decision to refuse vaccination.

After the application is accepted, the child is not immunized. The request was documented and confirmed by the head of the preschool institution. Unauthorized vaccination is punishable by law.

Regulations

When resolving controversial issues about vaccinations, they rely primarily on Federal Legislation.

The first document to which you should turn is the Constitution of the Russian Federation, where Article 43 guarantees the accessibility of education, including preschool.
Art. 43 clause 2 “Public access and free pre-school, basic general and secondary vocational education in state or municipal educational institutions and enterprises are guaranteed.”
Read also: Calendar schedule of vaccinations for children by age
According to Articles 32 and 33 of the Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of Protecting Citizens’ Health,” medical interventions can only be carried out with the consent of citizens and they have the right to refuse any procedures, including vaccinations. For minor citizens, their parents or legal representatives make decisions and give refusal or consent.
Art. 33 “A citizen or his legal representative has the right to refuse medical intervention or demand its termination...
If a citizen or his legal representative refuses medical intervention, the possible consequences must be explained in a form accessible to him.
The refusal of medical intervention, indicating the possible consequences, is recorded in the medical documentation and signed by the citizen or his legal representative, as well as a medical professional.”
The Law “On Immunoprophylaxis of Infectious Diseases” also leaves the right to vaccinate children or not to their parents, but stipulates the possible consequences.
Art. 5 clause 2 “The absence of preventive vaccinations entails:
- a ban on citizens traveling to countries where, in accordance with international health regulations or international treaties of the Russian Federation, their stay requires specific preventive vaccinations;
refusal to hire citizens for work or removal of citizens from work, the performance of which is associated with a high risk of contracting infectious diseases.”

Vaccination against polio and its absence

Most often, questions arise in connection with polio vaccination . According to the vaccination calendar, it is carried out up to three years, that is, before entering kindergarten, but often due to medical reasons and diseases, vaccination is shifted and children are vaccinated in kindergartens.

According to the law, the child must be given the opportunity to go to another group . However, during the course of the year, first one child is vaccinated, then another, so a situation may arise that for a long time an unvaccinated child will not be allowed into the kindergarten.

In some cases, parents write a statement that they take responsibility and continue to take their child to the same group.

Rights of the unvaccinated: healthy children have the right to go to kindergarten.

11/13/2013 Author: Arina Pokrovskaya Until now, in my practice, violations of the rights of unvaccinated children occur. Including children unvaccinated against polio.

Despite changes in legislation in 2011, when Rospotrebnadzor improved and corrected the existing Sanitary Rules for the prevention of polio, they often try to put pressure on parents and limit the rights of unvaccinated children to attend kindergartens and other institutions.

Let me remind you that the right to refuse vaccinations is guaranteed to Russian citizens under Art. 5 of the Federal Law of September 17, 1998 N 157-FZ “On Immunoprophylaxis of Infectious Diseases”.

And this law does not provide for any opportunities to violate the rights of children without vaccinations.

However, the following often happens: A healthy, unvaccinated child safely attends kindergarten. Another child comes to kindergarten, who is being vaccinated against polio at that time. And they are trying to exclude our healthy and unvaccinated person from the kindergarten or from his group for 60 days. And 60 days is about two months. And no sick leave for parents. This is just natural - the child is healthy.

Why is this happening?

The fact is that in Russia they still use OPV, the oral polio vaccine, as a vaccination against polio. It is “alive” and can cause real polio in a child, the so-called. VAPP (vaccine-associated paralytic polio). A less dangerous analogue is IPV - inactivated (“killed”) polio vaccine.

And by virtue of the provisions of paragraph 9.5 of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Rules SP 3.1.2951-11, approved by the Resolution of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation dated July 28, 2011 No. 107 “Prevention of Poliomyelitis”,

in kindergartens and some other children's institutions, children who have not been vaccinated against polio or who have received less than 3 doses of polio vaccine are separated from children vaccinated with OPV vaccine within the last 60 days for a period of 60 days from the date the children received the last OPV vaccine.

This seems to be done in order to prevent infection of unvaccinated children from those who were vaccinated with a live vaccine and for some time they are carriers of the polio virus.

However, in practice, it turns out to be another tool of pressure on unvaccinated and healthy children.

No one thought through the separation of healthy children from “freshly vaccinated” ones. In kindergartens, classes for such isolated children are not thought out, there are no premises and no wages for teachers, it is impossible to maintain the same regime for children of different ages.

Therefore, in some kindergartens, the administration is trying to simply send healthy children home for these same 60 days.

And just imagine: they vaccinate one child who is outside the standard vaccination schedule, and they try to vaccinate up to ten children!

Doctors usually recommend getting vaccinated against polio before the age of one year. And many parents who believe in vaccinations want to wait until the child grows up and gets stronger in order to be able to tolerate vaccination more easily. Therefore, children older than one year appear in kindergartens and are vaccinated with the OPV vaccine, after which they are considered carriers of the infectious disease pathogen polio and pose some danger to the people around them, including unvaccinated citizens.

In such a situation, it is important to know that separation does not equal a ban on visiting the garden.

Indeed, the above paragraph 9.5 SP 3.1.2951-11 “Prevention of Poliomyelitis” indicates the need for separation, but does not provide for a refusal to attend a children's educational institution for a healthy unvaccinated child. It also does not provide for the removal from the group of a healthy unvaccinated child, and not a vaccinated carrier of the causative agent of an infectious disease - polio.

And parents of unvaccinated children have the right to both insist that their healthy child remain in the same group and demand transfer to another group.

After all, if vaccinated children are so dangerous, then why should healthy unvaccinated children stay at home, while children infected with the polio vaccine and spreading the virus go to kindergartens and schools, swimming pools and sandboxes, children's studios and other organizations. Where is the logic? And the logic is that the danger looks somewhat far-fetched. The absence of any significant statistics on this issue only confirms this conclusion.

Also, in my experience, many unvaccinated children safely attended kindergarten at the same time as recently vaccinated children. I am not aware of any cases of infection.

Thus, if you find yourself in a similar situation, and they are trying to expel your healthy child from a kindergarten or family group against your will, you can write a statement addressed to the head of the kindergarten and demand that your rights be restored.

Remember that you must first contact the kindergarten administration . Ignore any attempts to redirect you to the district clinic or Rospotrebnadzor - the manager of the garden is responsible for compliance with the law in the garden. If the answer is negative, you have the right to complain to higher educational authorities, the prosecutor's office and the court about the illegal actions of the kindergarten administration.

Arina Pokrovskaya, psychologist and lawyer, director of the Human Rights

Categories: Against vaccination Tags: vaccine, doctors, children, kindergarten, refusal, polio, parents 44 comments

44 comments on “Rights of the unvaccinated: healthy children have the right to go to kindergarten.”

← Previous comments

Olga:
04/13/2017 at 08:56
5 minutes ago and we found ourselves in the same situation! Tired of proving our rights! When will this dullness be eradicated!
[Answer]
Natalia:
02/16/2017 at 23:18
Why do children who carry the virus freely go to public places? Why aren't they sitting at home??
[Answer]
Artem replied: April 16th, 2021 at 23:03 Good clarification. If you study the laws, then according to the law, children who spread infection must be protected from healthy children.
[Answer]
Olga Moscow time:
12/25/2016 at 02:41
Read also: Is it possible to walk with a child after Mantoux and what rules must be followed?
Unfortunately, the link to a scan of Rospotrebnadzor’s letter dated December 7, 2015 No. 17-41-2411061/15 (posted on the Kotoka website) has become broken. I updated it https://yadi.sk/d/iuByUwFy34nRjX
[Answer]

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Is it possible to get into kindergarten if the child has not been vaccinated for medical reasons?

In no case should a sick or weakened child be vaccinated, but no one has canceled his right to go to kindergarten.

In this case, the same laws and procedures apply, only instead of refusing vaccinations, parents provide a medical exemption from the clinic, and missing vaccinations can be completed during a visit to kindergarten.

Are parents required to agree to all vaccinations?

For many years, the only option for refusing vaccinations was a medical exemption confirmed by a medical commission. The law simply did not provide a choice for parents. Upon admission to any preschool or educational institution, a special document was required confirming vaccination according to the calendar.

Recently, there are more and more supporters of refusing compulsory vaccinations, fearing serious harm to the health of the child. Therefore, conditionally, all families can be divided into several groups:

Parents comply with the law, so the baby has all the necessary vaccinations according to age.
Adults do not deny the need to protect the immune system, but prefer an individual approach. They ask you to create your own vaccination calendar and may postpone your next trip to the clinic for ARVI or teething. Often, such parents are attentive to the choice of drugs in favor of foreign analogues, and use the services of private vaccination clinics.
Complete refusal to vaccinate based on medical conditions or personal beliefs. The number of such families only increases every year. Often parents refuse the first vaccinations due to the weakened health of the newborn, but in the future they decide to completely eliminate any interference in the natural development of immunity.

The last group of families is quite numerous, but there are no reliable statistics on “refuseniks”. Many parents, fearing conflicts in kindergarten or school, simply reach an agreement with the pediatrician. For a fee, he issues a certificate of the established form indicating all scheduled vaccinations. Despite the illegality, the situation is not uncommon.

The first BCG vaccination is done in the maternity hospital. When trying to refuse, a young mother is often pressured by doctors. They talk about the danger of contracting hepatitis or tuberculosis, asking you to sign a consent form. In fact, it is necessary to take into account the well-being and physical indicators of the baby, its weight and condition at birth.

How can you get your baby to be taken?

How can you get your child into kindergarten without vaccinations if they haven’t been given yet?

If the doctor does not sign the medical record, contact the head of the clinic and demand a written refusal. Next you go to the health department and the prosecutor's office.
If you received medical documents and were refused at the stage of admission to kindergarten, you must also obtain a written refusal from the head indicating the reason.
Next, you contact the Department of Education, attaching a written refusal.
If the department does not resolve this issue, then you need to contact the prosecutor's office.
Going to court is an extreme measure, which is rarely reached, because in most cases the court will be on the side of the child and his parents.

What to do if the waiver is signed, but the child is still vaccinated?

Quite often it happens that, despite a written refusal, the vaccination is still done, but the parents do not know how to proceed.

This cannot be left unpunished , since, having the document, medical workers violated your rights and the rights of the child.

You need to do the following:

Stop administering vaccines , because they are usually administered several times over a certain period of time. In case the doctor claims that stopping the course may have consequences, you don’t have to worry about this, it will not harm the child’s health, since these are all conventions and the doctors themselves know about it.
Write a complaint to the prosecutor's office , specifying all offenses. In this way, the necessary authorities will be aware of your problems and will create trouble for those who were vaccinated without the knowledge of their parents.
You can also write additional complaints to the Health and Education Committee so that such actions are stopped in the future.

Having decided to take advantage of the opportunity to refuse vaccinations, it is important to correctly and competently draft the refusal.

In addition, you must be informed and know what the consequences of this refusal may be in the future of the child.

Now you know that defending your rights regarding the admission of a child to kindergarten without vaccination is not so difficult. The main thing is to follow the advice and instructions, and also be more persistent and decisive in resolving this issue.

Conversation with the manager

In deciding the issue of attending kindergarten without vaccinations, how you will behave in this situation plays a big role. When going to a meeting with the manager, take with you the texts of the laws that you can rely on.

Try to record the negotiation process on a voice recorder; this may be necessary when contacting the prosecutor's office. Request all decisions that your manager makes to you in writing.

Speak calmly and confidently - the law is on your side. At the same time, remember that kindergarten workers are also people, they are afraid to make mistakes, to take responsibility , so try first of all to negotiate and only in case of complete misunderstanding go to extreme measures.

How to refuse future vaccination?

A medical worker in a kindergarten cannot administer vaccinations and the Mantoux test without your consent, since otherwise you have every right to sue him. Therefore, before each vaccination, all parents are asked to fill out a consent or refusal form.

Thus, attending kindergarten, even without vaccinations, is the legal right of any child (you can find out whether they can not be admitted to a preschool educational institution without a Mantoux test here). You can defend this right in higher authorities, relying on Russian legislation.

Entering kindergarten is the first serious test in a child’s life and the task of parents is to prepare for this event in advance. How to properly prepare for entering kindergarten, what things you need, how to sign clothes, and whether you need to undergo a medical examination - read on our website.

The legislative framework

If you are planning to send your child to a preschool institution and do not know whether they will admit you to kindergarten without vaccinations or not, then, first of all, you need to familiarize yourself with the laws that are in one way or another related to this issue.

The Law of the Russian Federation “On Immunoprophylaxis”, which was adopted back in 1998, contains a clause on the right of parents to write a refusal to be vaccinated.

According to the law, a preschool institution can still refuse to admit a toddler without completed vaccinations, but only if there is a threat of a mass epidemic or multiple cases of infectious diseases among children. And such a refusal will be temporary.