I don't have a problem with waiving immunizations for one's children as long as one understands the responsibilities and ripple-effect implications. Example: one case of pertussis in a first-grade classroom means the waivered kid must be excluded for 21 days. On the 7th day of the exclusion, a 2nd case is diagnosed, so add 21 MORE days to the child kept out of class. And so on and so forth. Who takes care of the excluded child - an at-home parent? How about the myriad social-educational-emotional ramifications of potential month[[s) of absence from 1st grade?

How about the ramifications of actually contracting pertussis? It's really contagious and though it may be just a nuisance illness with a inconveniently long-lasting cough for some, it can be deadly for others.

Sigh. The conspiracy theory behind vaccines is disease prevention.