Why should children without immunizations be excluded from care when an infectious disease is present? What other measures can be taken to prevent these children from catching the disease?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

It is important to exclude these childrenbecause it has been found that unimmunized children are as much as 35 times more likely to catch diseases such as measles than are those children who are in immunization compliance.This exclusion policy should be made clear to the parents of the unimmunized children. Other parents in care should be notified that there is or may be an unimmunized child in care, without revealing that child's identity, to maintain confidentiality. This information may be included in the parents' handbook if one is available at the early childhood education program. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests grouping unimmunized children together and away from the infants in care whoare too young for immunizations and from toddlers who may not have finished their immunization schedule. Parents of unimmunized children should be told of this policy if the early childhood education environment decides to follow this recommendation.