# forcing vaccinations for international adoptions



## chewymama (Mar 25, 2003)

We are in the process of adopting from China. Now with the Hague treaty, all children adopted from countries with the Hague treaty such as China, the children must have all the vaccines up to date. Which means that days after meeting their new parents, before the United States will issue a visa for the child to come home with their parents, children are recieving up to 9 different vaccines + a tb test at one time. It is horrifying even to the parents who are pro vaccine. No matter what your stance on vaxs it is in no ones best interest to be inject that many vaccines at one time into a child.

In 1996, both houses of Congress unanimously agreed that internationally adopted children should not be subject to massive numbers of vaccinations immediately prior to travel. The exemption was written into the Immigration and Nationalilty Act.

In 2007, Congress ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The Immigration and Nationality Act was again amended to impliment aspects of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption.

Unfortunately, the way that Congress amended the Immigration rules inadvertently bypassed the immunization exemption for some orphans. This happened simply because Congress changed the section numbering of the Immigration and Nationality Act without cross-referencing with existing exemptions!! The way it was implemented, now only non-Hague orphans get the immunization exemption.

Kids from Hague countries are now subject to the same massive immunizations that prompted Congress to enact the exemption in the first place. Another exemption, allowing older siblings of already adopted children to be eligible for adoption into the same family, was also inadvertently bypassed by the numbering change.

Key points:

** This is NOT a new exemption... it is the inadvertent loss of an existing exemption (only for Hague orphans), because of a simple change in section numbering in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
** The original exemption was passed unanimously in both Houses of Congress and clearly was not taken away on purpose, as non-Hague orphans still have the age and immunization exemptions.
** Kids from Hague-ratifying countries are being inadvertently singled out and punished because Congress made A MISTAKE.

There is curently a bill that is getting lost and it needs our voice to get pushed through. it is S. 1376: A bill to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted by United States citizens... It went to committee and is now buried in other bills. Who knows when we might see it again.

My request is simple. Please contact your senator or congressman and ask them to either co sponsor this bill, our children's health depends on it, or to help get it back on track!

Lets fix what the Hague has broken in regards to this one thing, Immunizations.


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## Mosaic (Jun 20, 2005)

Moved to activism...


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## yansmommy (May 30, 2008)

You may want to check with your pediatrician and see if it's still possible to do a titers test to determine the need for vaccines. I'm not sure, but I thought that was still a possibility.

Good luck on your adoption-it is an amazing journey!
Jenn


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## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *yansmommy* 
You may want to check with your pediatrician and see if it's still possible to do a titers test to determine the need for vaccines. I'm not sure, but I thought that was still a possibility.

This is almost impossible to do with most international adoptions. The current rules state that children need to be vaccinated BEFORE they can come to the USA. And quite honestly, if if the parent is able to travel and find a pediatrician who is willing and able to check titers before traveling, I'm not sure that the US embassy would issue a visa for a child who has titers instead of the required vaccines. International adoptions can be such a paperwork nightmare.


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