Vaccination Requirements in Costa Rica
Like most of us who were born in the first world, as an infant and child and young adult I was injected with vaccines. Overall my health is not terrible, but I have always had allergies. I researched the subject of vaccinations of children, and I was disturbed by what I found. It appears that many vaccines (past and present, third world and first world) contain unhealthy quantities of mercury, usually in the form of thimerosal. Additionally, there is some question about whether even aside from the mercury vaccines bias a child's immune response towards preventing uncommon ailments, instead of building a natural resistance to common ailments.
Here are a few links. Certainly you can find many, many more with your favorite search engine.
http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/FULL/Infant_Vaccination_Controversy.shtml
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com/2008/05/infant-vaccines-produce-autism-sym...
http://www.naturalnews.com/011764.html
http://www.thimerosal-autism-symptoms.com/
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/06/19/ep.vaccines/index.html?iref=...
And finally this gives a recommendation I am inclined to follow (scroll all the way to the bottom):
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller15.html
"In summary, this is a vaccination schedule that I would recommend:
1. No vaccinations until a child is two years old.
2. No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury).
3. No live virus vaccines (except for smallpox, should it recur).
4. These vaccines, to be given one at a time, every six months, beginning at age 2:
1. Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
2. Diphtheria
3. Tetanus
4. Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)"
Our daughter is now almost two weeks old and very healthy. She was born at home, and we did not want to have any vaccinations and so we have not taken her to the hostpital.
In order to get a birth certificate, we will have to jump through a variety of hoops, and according to the folks at the TSE office, this includes getting vaccinations. (They need a copy of the blue vaccination record book in order to process the birth certificate.)
The one thing we are not open to is getting the vaccinations now. What would be best is some kind of legal examption; or perhaps the law here only "recommends" vaccinations and does not require them. But barring that, we'll have to come up with a special arrangement with a doctor to have them sign off in the little blue form even though we are using an "alternate" vaccination schedule.
Any experience and suggestions would be welcome on this topic.
Thanks,
Peter, Milyn, and Rosalinda
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midwife lead
Hi Wendy, Here's a lead on a midwife: "Call NATALIE at 2438/4026 OR 8837/5444." Remember, it'll be easiest at the registrar if you have a doctor's note ;) I'll email you also a few other notes.
Home birth / vaccinations
Hello,
Like you, I've also educated myself on the harm of vaccinations at such an early stage. And at that, some of the vaccines that contain thimerisol, etc. How did you find your midwife? How did you go about your home-birth? I am very interested in following through with a natural-home-birth but I need to know of the steps I'll need to take and who to get in contact with to set everything up? I am hoping you can assist me there :)
It's really sad that this country cares more about money than the safety of our children. Knowing what I know about certian vaccinations, I would never (if I can help it) put them in my childs body.
I appreciate your time with this. Please feel free to reply or send me an email at wendy (at) sadsoft (odt) com
Thanks,
Wendy
The C.R. Public Health-Care System for babies
If your baby is born in a public hospital in Costa Rica, it will be given vaccinations, period. And the public health system will follow that baby's growth carefully, giving abundant vaccinations at regular intervals. It's all free, even the birth (usually). They will even drive to your house to give the baby vaccinations if you miss your appointment. However, once you are in the public system you cannot opt out. There is no religious exemption, or any other exemption, because it is viewed as the universal right of children to get health care, as defined by the caja. The social workers will come in increasing numbers, even with the police, in order to vaccinate a child they believe is being neglected by lack of vaccinations.
If your baby is born at home, and then you bring it to a local health clinic, you're in the same path. The local clinic, by the way, cannot and will not help in any way with registering your baby's birth. That is completely separate. The clinic only functions as the medical care facility and center for social-worker outreach.
If your baby is born in a private hospital, it depends on your arrangements. Plan ahead. You obviously pay for the birth, but at a cost far less than in the U.S.
If your baby is born at home, and you get a doctor to issue the certificates for the birth, then you may be outside the radar of the caja/local health care workers. It's a bit vague what the certificates from the doctor must say, but basically verifies the date and time of the birth. You'll need many copies of this letter to apply for the birth certificate and also to apply for citizenships of your home country. If you want to be out of the radar, never go to the local health clinic. Just bring your certificates directly to the public registry in the appropriate city.
One final note: it will take around three months to get the baby's birth certificate, from the time it is filed in the local registro. Plan ahead. Until you get that birth certificate, you can't get a passport from any country and cannot leave the country.
Enjoy your babies in Costa Rica. Plan carefully; if you know what you want, it's probably possible with proper planning.
followup
I can report that going throught the normal local route, that the government definitely does what it can to immunize all babies. For instance, once you go to the local clinics, they insist on seeing the immunization records from your hospital. And if you have a doctor-less homebirth, then they also insist on seeing these records at the registro in order to issue a birth certificate.
However, on the other hand, if you have a doctor's statement that confirm the birth, then they might need to see these records at the registro.
It is of course wise to plan all these things in advance, but I just don't have the character for it. The long and the short of it is that it is possible to pull this off but it's not necessarily straightforward. With a private doctor it's easier than in the public system, that's for sure.
Sorry this message is deliberately vague. If you need very specific answers on this vaccination topic about Costa Rica please contact me through email or site messages from my user page.
Peter
a few more responses...
I received these two responses to my email:
1) our daughter was born at Cima in San Jose and she has not received any vaccinations to date. our pediatrician respects our choice and has never given us a hard time, nor mentioned that there any legal requirements for vaccinations in costa rica. it is your right as a parent to decide this.
2) Hi! First of all--CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so happy to hear about your successful home birth. My daughter had her baby here in C.R. and was hoping for a home birth. She had a wonderful midwife, but ended up having to go to the public hospital for a c-section. My point in telling you this is that she did not want her son to have any vaccinations. She was told that vaccinations were required and that her baby could not leave the hospital without them. We fought it as best we could but they never budged. She didn't feel like spending the rest of her life in the public hospital, so her son was given the vaccinations. He's now five years old and we were concerned that the would require vaccinations for kindergarten, but we had no problems.
My daughter just had to write a note explaining her stand.
My other daughter had her baby in C.R., too. Her baby was born in a clinic and no vaccinations were required. She was able to get the baby's birth certificate, no problem, thru the Registro Civil. I don't know if this information will be of any help because it seems that "the law" changes depending on who you're talking to. Sometimes I think that each person in a position of authority says what they "think" the law is, and state it as fact...but that's just me being my sceptical self...
Christian Science Church
Is there Christian Science Church in CR? If so they should know.
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