March of Dimes officials say day care operators should post whether their employees have to be vaccinated. (Photo by USACE/flickr)
By Jim Anderson/Illinois Radio Network
CHICAGO – The March of Dimes says day care centers ought to have vaccine policies for the adults who work there.
The policies need not require vaccines, but at least the day care centers should have a policy on whether workers have to be vaccinated, so the public would know, says Shelly Musser, director of advocacy for the March of Dimes Illinois Chapter.
The March of Dimes believes that the adults should be vaccinated, to protect kids who are too young to get vaccines.
“There are some vaccines that children do not receive until they are older – pertussis or whooping cough being one of those, and them of course also the measles, which we’re also seeing this huge epidemic in Illinois with,” she said.
The group is also pushing for day care workers to at least be told by doctors about vaccines during their mandatory physicals once every two years.
They’re hoping the Department of Children and Family Services, which licenses day care facilities, will make this a rule. The agency has a rule-making process that requires public comments. Eventually, the rules have to go before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, made up of members of the General Assembly, will determine whether the rule comports with the applicable statute.
