A Metro Detroit mother tells a local television station that she has been ordered by a judge to vaccinate her 9-year-old son within one week or she will go to jail.
Rebecca Bredow tells WXYZ-TV that a parental battle over vaccinations resulted in an Oakland County Circuit Court judge to deliver the order. The TV station's video package shows the court documents and order from the judge.
Bredow said she and her ex-husband originally agreed to space out and delay some of the vaccines, but that the vaccinations started to get grouped together.
"I would rather sit behind bars for standing up for what I believe in, than giving into something I strongly don't believe in," she said during the interview with WXYZ. "God forbid he were to be injured by one of the vaccines, then what, that's what scares me.
"I feel backed into a corner, I feel my rights as a parent have been taken away. Every parent has a choice, but we also have a right to have our voices heard, so why automatically side with the father who wants the vaccines."
In Michigan, parents are allowed to get a vaccination waiver for medical, religious or philosophical issues. The allowance of "philosophical" waivers makes Michigan one of 20 states to have an option out of vaccinations for reasons other than religious or medical reasons.
Child immunization rates in Michigan are among the worst in the U.S. with a ranking of 43rd lower for children between the ages of 19 and 35 months. State law requires each student in public, private and parochial schools to possess a certificate of immunization for admittance into kindergarten, seventh grade or a new school district
Back in 2015, lawmakers in the state required parents seeking a waiver to meet with a county health professional. A form is then signed with the parent's statement of acknowledgment they could be putting other people's kids at risk by refusing vaccinations.