Is it possible to get a waiver for any of these? OK before thinking I'm crazy just read on, please. The one I'm concerned with is the requirement for a DTaP booster. I had a bad reaction to it last time I had it as a kid and couldn't walk for several days. I'm also allergic to the aluminum it contains (really… I cannot wear deodorant with aluminum.) I've had the Hep B and Meningitis vaccines, and a bunch of other stuff, but I am reluctant to get another DTaP. I guess I should also mention I was diagnosed with 2 autoimmune diseases 10 years ago (I am OK now) both suspiciously timed after receiving vaccines (now you can think I'm crazy, I guess.) This just makes me wary of getting that particular vaccine again, or any containing aluminum. Is this something that there is absolutely no way around?
Immunization requirements
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Now I am no doctor, but I think most people get their dTaP when they're younger. Below 7 usually. Are you sure you it hasn't been administered already? Maybe you've mistaken it with Tdap which is usually administer after 11 or 12 and even in adulthood.
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DTaP is the vaccine used for kids. For adults, should be Td every 10 years. However with the pertussis outbreak, the recommendation is to get one single booster of Tdap for adults who have already completed their childhood immunization series when they are due for their next tetanus booster. Depending on your school policy, you may be able to get a waiver from the pertussis requirement if you produce a medical necessity letter from your rheumatologist or immunologist. However, be aware that hospitals have their policies too and it may limit your clinical rotation choices. Also residencies may require certain immunization a and their policies may or may not allow for waiver of requirements. Plus you may be limited in your responsibilities if you are not fully immunized (i.e. working with BMT patients, solid organ transplant recipients, children, etc). There are pockets of pertussis outbreaks and the last thing a medical center wants is for one of its employees to be implicated in spreading pertussis to vulnerable population. There are increasing number of medical centers that require annual influenza vaccination (and would terminate you if you do not get vaccinated). They may or may not allow for medical exception, depending on their policy.
As a first step, I would contact the student health center at the medical school you are interested in attending, explain your particular situation, and ask for their policy and what documentation would be required.
As a first step, I would contact the student health center at the medical school you are interested in attending, explain your particular situation, and ask for their policy and what documentation would be required.
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The previous poster is indeed correct, and if you had read their post, you would know that they read yours.
DTaP is the immunization given to children under the age of 7, whereas Tdap is the booster given to adolescents and adults. They are two different, albeit similar, immunizations.
If you did get a reaction to the booster (Tdap) then you could likely get a waiver from the shot. Really, you should just contact your school, because different programs have different ways of handling this stuff.
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Curiosity tho, if you get those two diseases will the teeter show positive for anti-bodies and as such you'll be fine?
*not advocating you go get them btw, pretty sure both of them can kill you.
*not advocating you go get them btw, pretty sure both of them can kill you.
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State law requirements and hospital requirements can be different. Just because there is no state requirement doesn't mean the hospital can't adopt a more stricter requirement. Same for schools ... Schools are free to adopt stricter requirements than what the states would require.
Nothing is absolute. We don't know what school you are going to, what hospitals you will rotate through as a student, and what healthcare system you will go through as a resident. That is why we can't tell you what their immunization requirements are, and what their exemption policies are. That is something you will have to investigate. I'm not saying to get the immunization for the sake of policy, but investigate the policies yourself, find out if there are any waivers or limitations based on the policies, and ultimately discuss the benefits of immunization versus the risk of immunization with your doctors (who knows you the best) and weigh that against any limitations or hassles that not getting the immunization would entail.
Nothing is absolute. We don't know what school you are going to, what hospitals you will rotate through as a student, and what healthcare system you will go through as a resident. That is why we can't tell you what their immunization requirements are, and what their exemption policies are. That is something you will have to investigate. I'm not saying to get the immunization for the sake of policy, but investigate the policies yourself, find out if there are any waivers or limitations based on the policies, and ultimately discuss the benefits of immunization versus the risk of immunization with your doctors (who knows you the best) and weigh that against any limitations or hassles that not getting the immunization would entail.
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Not sure why so many people have a problem with this...
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Needlephobia?
I think it's pretty smart given that it is a common illness that people go to the hospital for or even that relatives of patients come in carrying.
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Seem unlike now that they have the nasal sprays hmm it is a smart idea though.
Now you are a medical student and know more than me but recently (I was a lot of conspiracy theory stuff) their have been studies linking autism and flu vaccine due to the heavy metals in it. There is probably much debate to be had over this. Who knows what the truth is until more studies come out. It more harmful to infants and kids thou. I doubt the majority of the public knows about this hmm now i am questioning myself. I'll end here
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Meh, I'm just an MS1 so I don't know much more than you, but basically the vaccine-autism 'debate' was started by a study 20 years ago that turned out to be fraudulent. The British gastroenterologist who authored it lost his medical license over it; he later admitted to straight-up falsifying data. Since then the debate has been carried on by parents with good intentions who want to protect their kids and by the government conspiracy types who insist that all of us in healthcare are either unwitting cogs in a conspiracy or willing participants who lie to patients because we're being paid off by 'big pharma.'
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Good find, but research still continues on the subject. I agree with you since I don't think there is a single cause of this disorder. In any case vaccines general do more good then harm.
I see, that is very interesting. I have never heard about the origin of this debate. Oh well I hope it is no the vaccines
which doesn't seem to be the case anymore anyways.
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My physician actually refuses to carry nasal sprays. I think they are supposed to actually produce a real immune response as it is a live virus.
As Nor said, the studies are bunk. The half life of the mercury in those vaccines was large enough for even the most sickly infant to be fine. Autism is almost certainly an in utero developed disorder and mothers simply don't want to bare the blame of their bodies ( at least the part that isn't genetically attributable) being the reason why their children have autism.
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I agree, I just found a study that says it is likely to be from the mother. Thank you everyone for pointing me in the right direction
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I dislike the flu vaccine requirement because the vaccine itself is a statistical equation in that they only provide the top 2-3 strains they think will show up that year. If you contract a different strain, you still get the flu. Secondly, I rarely rarely get the flu as it is. I haven't had a sick day from work in over 2 years. Why get the flu vaccine if I don't get the flu to begin with?
And before you say " oh, your patients will get you stick" I work with my patients everyday in multiple cities and have done so for years. Still don't get the flu, nor have I ever gotten the flu vaccine.
And before you say " oh, your patients will get you stick" I work with my patients everyday in multiple cities and have done so for years. Still don't get the flu, nor have I ever gotten the flu vaccine.
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I believe all vaccines produce an immune response, that's why they work. The way the nasal spray works is that the virus is basically engineered to tolerate only colder temps below the human body temp. The nasal spray gets the virus into the nasal region which is slightly cooler than the rest of the body and so the virus only remains there while the body creates antibodies to gain immunity. Kinda brilliant solution and elegant solution in my opinion
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Not that there is any real debate over this, but check this out:
This is the person responsible for the vaccine/autism rumors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_McCarthy
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'Murica: Where we trust the healthcare advice of a former Playboy Playmate over that of actual physicians.
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Because people will always herd around the one why the easy answer or easy cure. I mean why go through years of schooling and therapy to become essentially a normal person when you could go and drink some magic juice and be all better?
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The vaccine is quadravalent this year.
Arguing that you never had the flu as a reason to not get the flu vaccine isn't appropriate. Its the same as arguing you should play Russian Roulette because you never had a loaded chamber. (Dramatic, yes) You have just been statistically luck to not get the disease. In the future, you should be vaccinated to prevent transmission of the disease to your patients.
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You should be able to have a titer run, and if needed you should be able to get a medical waiver stating you're allergic to an ingredient.
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Or some all-natural organic homeopathic kool-aid.
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Guess this means cant ever trust anything play boy haha
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I will ask if I can bypass the flu vaccine. If the answer is no, I'll get it.
My question, concerning your statement that my logic is faulty, is when is a body of evidence sufficient? I've been in healthcare for 7 years now and I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten the flu. At what point do you say the flu vaccine might not be necessary for me?
Our purpose is to medicate when necessary correct? If the answer is "just because" that's not sufficient enough for me. I'm not trying to argue, I'm genuinely curious.
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It's a vaccine not ganja. It's a preventative measure. Just because you've only gotten it a few times doesn't mean you won't get it this year. It's a measure to protect your patients, especially vulnerable ones (children and elderly).
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Exactly. If you ask occupational health why you're supposed to get the vaccine the #1 reason they'll tell you is to protect your patients.
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Based on this post I would assume you're confusing the stomach "flu" with influenza-- a lot of people do this. If you've ever had influenza, you would not question getting the flu shot to try to prevent that experience from ever happening again, IMO.
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This.
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Buddy and Bacchus are right on this.
I will agree that the argument of not having the flu is not solely illogical, and that getting it is not solely an issue of chance, but rather a combination of your own immune system and chance given that someone with a very healthy immune system might have to be exposed to a ton of virions, which may be very unlikely, in order to get sick. That said, just because one has a particularly healthy immune system now, doesn't mean they will always have one. Hence the more chance aspect of it.
A lot of people are ignoring the main issue here too: getting a vaccine is not purely to prevent YOU from getting sick, its to significantly reduce the chance of someone who is unable to get the vaccine (immunosuppressed individuals, the sick, those allergic to it, etc.) from getting sick. It is indeed to protect the patient, because ultimately, while you may never get a full blown infection, not having antibodies to kill the viruses may increase your ability to spread it (again even if you aren't fully sick).
We can also debate all day about the value of vaccinating for 1, 2, 3, etc. different strands, but you can never vaccinate against all of them, so it only makes sense to do so against the most likely candidates.
I will agree that the argument of not having the flu is not solely illogical, and that getting it is not solely an issue of chance, but rather a combination of your own immune system and chance given that someone with a very healthy immune system might have to be exposed to a ton of virions, which may be very unlikely, in order to get sick. That said, just because one has a particularly healthy immune system now, doesn't mean they will always have one. Hence the more chance aspect of it.
A lot of people are ignoring the main issue here too: getting a vaccine is not purely to prevent YOU from getting sick, its to significantly reduce the chance of someone who is unable to get the vaccine (immunosuppressed individuals, the sick, those allergic to it, etc.) from getting sick. It is indeed to protect the patient, because ultimately, while you may never get a full blown infection, not having antibodies to kill the viruses may increase your ability to spread it (again even if you aren't fully sick).
We can also debate all day about the value of vaccinating for 1, 2, 3, etc. different strands, but you can never vaccinate against all of them, so it only makes sense to do so against the most likely candidates.
