| Opposition to mandatory childhood immunization
programs in a child's early life is a growing world wide movement, which
has developed in recent years, completely independent of Waldorf education,
and it has adherents both outside and inside Waldorf schools. For details,
see Global Vaccine Institute, Global Vaccine Awareness League, 16 Reasons not to Vaccinate and compelling arguments against vaccination.
For an article on the immunization issue which
mentions the Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, CO, see A
shot in the dark, Parents should get all the facts before immunizing their
children. S
This issue has led to another of the unfounded
allegations by PLANS in their anti-Waldorf campaign, that
it is generally an official or
tacit policy of Waldorf education to oppose childhood immunization,
exposing children in Waldorf kindergarten and elementary schools to the
life-threatening dangers of child diseases like the measles or rubella.
But this is not the case. The expressly stated view by the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education,
where the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America is an
affiliate member, is that vaccination of children is a decision for
their parents, not Waldorf schools. Waldorf schools should, if
anything, help parents become informed by qualified health
professionals, but should not try to influence the parents one way or
the other in their decision.
Go to the overview of myths
cultivated by "PLANS Inc."
Go to the next myth. |
