Medical Policies: Vaccinations

Policy Statement: 

All campers who are in residence at camp (children living at Camp for longer than 6 days) are required to have age-appropriate vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 

The vaccination of all members of the community is essential for maintaining a safe environment and decreasing the risk of transmission of preventable illnesses. We recognize that some parents may choose to defer the vaccination of their children. While at CYJ-Texas, however, this is not an issue of individual rights and choice, but an issue of public health and policy. The routine vaccination of all children, staff, and visitors is a critical public health matter, especially in a summer camp environment with intimate communal living and vulnerable populations present. 

Policy Exemptions:

 Gardasil or Cervarix (HPV vaccine). Though recommended by the AAP and CDC, it is a relatively new vaccine for both young women and young men, and we are not in a position to mandate its use. 

Documented Allergies. We recognize that individuals who have had a documented allergy or severe adverse reaction to a particular vaccine will not be able to receive further doses of that individual vaccine. In addition, individuals with medical conditions such as congenital immunodeficiency or HIV, malignancies receiving chemotherapy, transplant patients, and persons receiving immunosuppressive drugs and chronic steroids, will not be able to receive certain vaccines. 

In these instances, a physician documenting the problem and exempting the child from further doses of that specific vaccine must be furnished to CYJ Texas. In addition, if an individual or his/her family believes that a specific situation poses extenuating circumstances, and furnishes a letter from a medical doctor (MD) substantiating this contention, CYJ Texas will review such situations on a case-by-case basis. 

CYJ Texas does not require Covid-19 Vaccines. Learn more about our Covid Policy here