Vaccination Policy
Vaccination Policy
Background:
Each year, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Pediatric Society publishes a “Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.” Practicing pediatricians across North America consider this the standard of care, and indeed the context in which they practice. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has established vaccine standards for adults.
With the clear public health based need to protect the camp community as a whole, we require that all children, staff, visitors, and their families attending Camp Tel Yehudah must be immunized in the manner below.
Case Statement:
Parents send their children to camp and assume that their children will enjoy themselves, have positive social interactions and be safe and healthy. Safety and public health are priorities for Tel Yehudah. The vaccination of all members of the community is essential in order to maintain a safe environment and decrease the risk of transmission of preventable illnesses. The establishment of a safe environment must therefore include the requirement that all members of the Tel Yehudah community be adequately immunized against all of the preventable diseases as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. While parents may choose to defer the vaccination of their children, for Tel Yehudah this is not an issue of individual rights and choice, but an issue of public health and policy. The routine vaccination of all children, staff and visitors is an important public health matter especially in the confined environment of a residential summer camp, with round-the-clock communal living and with some vulnerable populations present.
Policy Statement:
All those who are in residence at camp (children and adults living in camp for longer than 7 days) are required to have age-appropriate vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Canadian Pediatric Society, and Center for Disease Control (CDC), with the exceptions noted.
- DTaP, DT, Td, or Tdap (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis)
- Tdap vaccine is now required for children over age 11
- IPV (Poliovirus)
- HIB (Haemophilus influenza type b bacteria)
- PCV 13 (Pneumococcal) vaccine
- Rotavirus vaccine
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis A- strongly recommended
- MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) or serologic evidence of immunity.
Adults born before 1957 are assumed to be immune to measles. - Varicella vaccine (Varivax – for Chicken Pox), or serologic or historical evidence of immunity
- Menactra (Meningococcal disease / Meningitis) - required for those age 11 and older (See below)
Tel Yehudah makes the following exceptions:
- Gardasil or Cervarix (HPV vaccine): though recommended by the AAP and CDC, it is a relatively new vaccine for both young women and young men, and we are not in a position to mandate its use.
- Menactra: In Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has not yet endorsed general use of Menactra; therefore, Menactra is not covered by the provincial health plans. Accordingly, while campers, faculty, and staff attending Tel Yehudah are STRONGLY ADVISED to receive Menactra, at this time they will not be mandated to receive it. For more information about Meningococcal disease visit: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/meningococcal/fact_sheet.htm
Policy Exceptions:
We recognize that individuals, who have had a documented allergy or severe adverse reaction to a particular vaccine, will not be able to receive further doses of that individual vaccine. In addition, individuals with medical conditions such as congenital immunodeficiency or HIV, malignancies receiving chemotherapy, transplant patients, and persons receiving immunosuppressive drugs and chronic steroids, will not be able to receive certain vaccines. In these instances, a physician documenting the problem and exempting the child from further doses of that specific vaccine must be furnished to Tel Yehudah. In addition, if an individual or his/her family believes that a specific situation poses extenuating circumstances, and furnishes a letter from a medical doctor (MD) substantiating this contention, Tel Yehudah will review such situations on a case by case basis.