Inoculation requirements

[Bobsbees]

We have been selected for further processing for a DV visa and understand that we need full inoculation certificates. My wife and daughter are completely against inoculation and have not received any jabs at any time. How strict is the DV inoculation requirement and can we appeal against it on say religious grounds?

Thanks in advance
Bob

 

[SusieQQQ]

I believe that if you refuse to be inoculated by the panel doctor you will not get a clean medical certificate. Also children will not be admitted to schools without vaccination certificates as far as I am aware. We were specifically told by our doctor to ensure we kept the children's ones for school admission.

I'm not going to get into a debate on the pros and cons, but it's perfectly understandable that people don't want exposure to serious preventable illnesses. You may need to decide whether your religious grounds are more important than moving to the US.

 

[vladek15425]

My friend I'm affraid that u can't not avoid the vaccinations!
If u do , u will be rejected

 

[Vichel]

We have been selected for further processing for a DV visa and understand that we need full inoculation certificates. My wife and daughter are completely against inoculation and have not received any jabs at any time. How strict is the DV inoculation requirement and can we appeal against it on say religious grounds?

Thanks in advance
Bob

The Canberra website has this:

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I don’t want to have the inoculations/vaccinations. Does that mean I can’t have a visa?

Should you not wish to receive any of the required vaccinations, you will be found ineligible to receive an immigrant visa. You may apply for a waiver of that ineligibility, but must establish that compliance with the vaccination requirements would be contrary to your religious beliefs or moral convictions.

To qualify for a waiver you must show that:

1.You are opposed to vaccinations in any form;

2.The objection is based on religious beliefs or moral convictions (whether or not as a member of a recognized religion); and

3.The religious belief or moral conviction (whether or not as part of a recognized religion) is sincere.

A fee is applicable for a vaccination waiver and will be advised at the time of application. The waiver will be sent to our regional USCIS office for their consideration. These waiver applications can take several months to process.

(Source: http://canberra.usembassy.gov/iv_faqs.html)

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The last sentence could be a problem for you - the fact that requesting this waiver can take a while. I believe the fee is $585 per waiver.

 

[SusieQQQ]

That's interesting, though note the comment from this forum:

"This waiver is difficult, time consuming and costly to file and unlikely to be successful. We've had several people on here asking about a vaccination waiver, and none have been successful as far as I know. "

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/269164-form-i-601-for-religious-objection-to-vaccines/

It also doesn't address the issue of school admission if the daughter is of school age, though I guess they always have the option of home schooling.

 

[Sm1smom]

Spot on Vichel! A waiver can be granted based on religious or moral convictions, or for medical reasons. However, the process for doing so is long-drawn one, a DV applicant should give should give careful consideration to the time factor involved (and of course, the cost), plus there's no guarantee at the end of the day that this waiver would be granted.

Could a person request and be granted a personal-belief waiver from the vaccine requirements?
The applicant needs to check with USCIS to obtain the application for a waiver based on religious or moral conviction. It is a separate application process to obtain an individual waiver based on religious or moral conviction.

Centre for Disease Controls - CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/exams/medical-examination-faqs.html#1


Immigrant Visa Interview - Medical Examination FAQs

What if there is a medical reason for the applicant to not receive a listed vaccination?
Certain waivers of the vaccination requirement are available upon the recommendation of the panel physician

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3745.html

Children will be admitted into schools if the waiver is granted. Also if the parents are already in the US and they decide to not get their kids immunized, the parents will be asked to fill out a form, when they go to register their kids, indicating they object to getting their kids immunized on moral or religious grounds.

 

[vladek15425]

Just wanna add somthing:
If the applicant is from AF I strongly doubt it that the visa will be accorded without taking the shots !!

 

[SusieQQQ]

Just wanna add somthing:
If the applicant is from AF I strongly doubt it that the visa will be accorded without taking the shots !!

Why should that make a difference?

I am surprised, in litigation-happy America, that schools admit unvaccinated children.

 

[Sm1smom]

I am surprised, in litigation-happy America, that schools admit unvaccinated children.

Unfortunately (or fortunately ), America is also a land of rights and choice . There's a remarkable large number of parents who opt to not immunize their kids for fear of autism or the likes of such illness which they're strongly convinced is connected to those vaccines immunized kids receive. They contend it's their right to protect their kids the best way they can.

Most anti-vaccine parents claim vaccination is a personal choice, but the decision to remain purposely unvaccinated can sometimes be fatal, to those that are either too young to be vaccinated or who have legitimate medical contraindications. For as long as there are no federal vaccination laws, there's not much anyone can do to compel such parents to have a change of heart.

 

[Vichel]

It's very state-specific. There are a number of states that allow kids to be registered in school unvaccinated, due to their parents' philosophical beliefs. California, Colorado, Washington are ones I know of. Most states allow exemptions due to religious beliefs. California is one that doesn't allow exemptions due to religious belief, which is odd since it allows them on philosophical belief. But then, the whole idea of not protecting your child from vaccine-preventable diseases is odd to begin with. Hence the recent increase in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. I'm sure we'll see much more in future unfortunately. Maybe even the return of those clumsy leg braces and iron lungs.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Having not very long ago seen a good friend nearly lose her daughter in a measles outbreak, you can guess where my sympathies lie.

 

[Vichel]

Having not very long ago seen a good friend nearly lose her daughter in a measles outbreak, you can guess where my sympathies lie.

My sympathies lie with yours. I'm sorry for the distress your friends must have suffered. Needlessly.

I'm "old" enough to have had schoolmates in those awful leg braces, who were often bullied and called "Sp*z" and had to sit out physical activities and play. And now we're hearing of reports of tiny babies coughing themselves to death due to getting pertussis before they were old enough to be immunized. I'm glad I'm all up-to-date and am hopefully not a vector.

 

[Sm1smom]

It's very state-specific. There are a number of states that allow kids to be registered in school unvaccinated, due to their parents' philosophical beliefs. California, Colorado, Washington are ones I know of.

I was amazed at how easy it is to register an unvaccinated kid in California. A couple of years back when I went in to register my kid, and I forgot the immunization card at home, the school secretary told me I could simply fill out a form claiming my kid wasn't vaccinated because I'm morally against it. Of course I told I could be back in less than 30 minutes with the card to complete the registration process.

Not surprisingly, come 2010, there's an outbreak of pertussis in the State which killed 10 babies and sickened over 9,000 others -the worst outbreak the State has had to deal with in 60 years. The outbreak pattern was traced to children of parents who filed for "non-medical excemptions" from the State's vaccine program.

 

[vladek15425]

Why should that make a difference?

I am surprised, in litigation-happy America, that schools admit unvaccinated children.

Its makes a difference regarding the dv process.
But once in the usa like some1mom said its another story.
I never had any vaccin my self when I was a baby I nearly died of chiken pox or measels
(Rougeole in french).
My mother had me when she was 17, I don't blame her shame.
Funny enough she came in august visiting me in SA and she made sure to take my child
For his 9 months shot.
Funwhen I started assembling all the documents for the dv 2014 I saw that they ask about
The medical vaccination record I emailed my mom asking her about my child book vaccination
Record, I found out that I have none !!!!! That's when she told me about me cheating death!
The last vaccin record I have is 8 years old I did it because I came through mozambique
And the strongly recommended me to do some including yellow fever,
I have all that book trasnlated for my dv medical hope it will help !?
Iam an africain and I leave in africa and unfortunatly malaria and paludism
Hiv, yellow fever, tb, elephantiasis..... still taking lives in here ....
Because of lack of education and corruption and poor management and lack of prevention from the political authorities....
That's we people are still paying heavy price ....

 

[SusieQQQ]

Its makes a difference regarding the dv process.
But once in the usa like some1mom said its another story.
I never had any vaccin my self when I was a baby I nearly died of chiken pox or measels
(Rougeole in french).
My mother had me when she was 17, I don't blame her shame.
Funny enough she came in august visiting me in SA and she made sure to take my child
For his 9 months shot.
Funwhen I started assembling all the documents for the dv 2014 I saw that they ask about
The medical vaccination record I emailed my mom asking her about my child book vaccination
Record, I found out that I have none !!!!! That's when she told me about me cheating death!
The last vaccin record I have is 8 years old I did it because I came through mozambique
And the strongly recommended me to do some including yellow fever,
I have all that book trasnlated for my dv medical hope it will help !?
Iam an africain and I leave in africa and unfortunatly malaria and paludism
Hiv, yellow fever, tb, elephantiasis..... still taking lives in here ....
Because of lack of education and corruption and poor management and lack of prevention from the political authorities....
That's we people are still paying heavy price ....

You still didn't explain why someone from Africa should have it viewed differently than anyone else. The medical will check if you are carrying any infectious diseases. If you're not, it should make no difference where you're from. If you are, it makes no difference where you're from either.

I'm deeply disturbed at stories like sm1smom spoke about, of course similar to the case I mentioned. I find it unbelievable that in this day and age children in advanced countries are dying of entirely preventable diseases. Of course that just makes me even more determined to ensure my children's vaccinations are always up to date. Really strange that states are so unyielding on things like seat belt laws and not this. Both are there to prevent unnecessary deaths.

As for the panel doctor, neither my husband nor I still had any vaccination records - wasn't a problem, we just got some jabs.