Your child is getting vaccinated next week. Go find out for yourself what that means.

 

My son attends a Chassidic elementary school, in Israel, called "Talmud Torah" or "Cheidar". Today he brought home a half a piece of paper stating, "the standard vaccines for first and eighth grades will be given next Tuesday, send your child's vaccine record to school".

No explanation of what the vaccines are, no explanation of possible side effects.

During my tenure as school nurse, I built trust with parents over a long time and in many one on one informative conversations. I encouraged some Haredi (ultra-orthodox) families who were opposed to vaccines to complete at least some of them. This meant increased coverage in large families, causing a positive ripple effect.

And during my tenure, there were no outbreaks of contagious disease preventable by vaccines.

But trust building and the time it takes is not of interest, evidently, to those running vaccine administration in Israel.

I have been replaced by a half a page note, implying that you should already know what the vaccines are, and requesting the sending of the vaccine record, which is a mark of consent.

You need not wonder why people are losing trust in the medical system, and even refusing vaccines. This loss of trust is not happenstance, it is calculated as part of an effort to spread the school nurses thinly over many schools, with little contact with parents and virtually no explanation regarding what the vaccines even are.

The Haredi population limits its exposure to internet and are not likely to know what these "standard vaccines" are. besides, in many years vaccines were added, altered or subtracted, so an annual letter to parents updating the vaccine schedule is essential, especially to Haredi families, who do not surf the internet or watch TV.

Ah, but handy anti-Haredi stereotypes will fill in any perceived injustice. Just declare that "the Haredim are like this, nothing you can do, they refuse vaccines."

Very few people are "just like this." Communication proves otherwise, but the stereotypes will blame the victim