OGDEN -- Some parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are feeling frustrated and angry about the way they were notified of a whooping cough outbreak in a city school last week.
More than 65 Mount Ogden Junior High School students were sent home for being underimmunized or on immunization exemption -- for personal, religious or medical reasons -- on Oct. 24, when one student case of whooping cough was confirmed.
On Friday evening, it was announced that students on immunization exemption can't come back to school until Nov. 14, because two more cases had been confirmed in the school.
The Weber-Morgan Health Department now calls the situation an outbreak.
This is frustrating for Robert Sweeten and his children, who attend Mount Ogden Junior High. His children are on immunization exemption, so he has been home-schooling them for the past week and will continue to do so for the next two weeks.
"For them, school is a very social thing, and they are really missing that," Sweeten said.
What bothers him is the attitude that many have about people who choose to not have their children immunized. "They think the ones who are not immunized are the bad apples."
Sweeten said he has read studies showing that immunized youngsters also can contract whooping cough. One of the recent cases in Ogden involves an immunized student.
He is not unhappy with the way the school handled the situation and said the school has worked really well with helping students get their work.
However, he feels that those who aren't immunized are treated like "social outcasts."
Ogden School District Superintendent Brad Smith encouraged students to be vaccinated to alleviate the problem of an outbreak of a dangerous, infectious disease.
"I firmly believe in immunizations," Smith said, adding that the possible side effects are "minuscule" when compared with the problems not being vaccinated can cause.
He said he respects the right of those who choose for religious or personal reasons not to be vaccinated, but there are problems that stem from that choice.
"Those who believe (in immunizations) are at risk from those who don't," Smith said.
And those who don't believe in the immunizations are paying a high price now in regard to education, he said.
Students who are on immunization exemption will be permitted to return to school Nov. 14 unless more cases are confirmed. Every time another case is confirmed, those exempted students will not be permitted back in school for another 21 days.
The school sent a recorded message to all students' homes Friday evening, informing parents of the outbreak and telling them they will be permitted to come to the school today to gather homework if their children can't return until Nov. 14.
Sheila Favero has eight children. She immunized her first seven, but opted to not to immunize her youngest child for personal reasons.
Her child did receive the Tdap booster last spring to protect him before going to Scout camp, but it was his first immunization.
Her child was sent home from school but was able to return once Favero turned in his forms. She also opted to put him on the antibiotic required for all underimmunized or unimmunized students.
She's frustrated with the way the district initially handled the situation.
"A call should have gone to every parent when they knew about the first case," Favero said.
There is still a 15 percent chance that those who have been immunized could contract the disease, and parents could be watching for warning signs, she said.
Students also felt left in the dark about what was going on when they were initially called out of class.
"They wouldn't tell the kids at first, and they wondered if they had done something wrong," Favero said.
District spokeswoman Jeanette Pascoe said the district followed all proper protocols, and with the latest outbreak, it was decided that phone calls would be made to all parents to keep everyone aware of the situation.
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