Years ago parents hardly ever questioned whether to vaccinate their children or not.  It was done knowing the potential and real health ramifications not vaccinating them could bring.

Today, that attitude has changed. A 2013 survey conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics found 87 percent of pediatricians stated they had encountered parents who refused to vaccinate their child. This was up from 75 percent who reported parental refusal during the last survey in 2006.  

What is going on?  Why would loving parents refuse to protect their children from harmful and deadly contagious diseases that can be easily prevented through immunizations?

The most common reason given by three out of every four parents was that vaccines are unnecessary because diseases they prevent are rare and they no longer see them as a threat. This reason is really unreasonable because that’s the point of vaccinations – to make a contagious disease rare if not eradicated.  Because of the strong immunization program we have in this country that shows it is a testament to the effectiveness of vaccines.  Vaccines help create a “herd immunity” meaning when a vast majority of people are vaccinated, it protects those who can’t be or choose not to be vaccinated. 

If we get to the point where this currently small trickle of parents refusing to vaccinate turns more into a cascade of parents jumping on the same train of thought, watch out.  Diseases that are now rare will come roaring back in no time putting all of us in danger – measles, mumps, whooping cough, chickenpox, polio, diphtheria, rubella, tetanus, rotavirus, and pertussis.  Do we really want to take that risk?

Other reasons given by parents for refusing vaccines for their children range from concerns about safety, religious beliefs, to a baby being too small to receive vaccines, or uneasiness over too many shots given at once.

The findings from the report urge pediatricians to address the problem of parents not wanting to vaccinate their children by addressing the parent’s concerns and to correct misperceptions, explain that vaccines are rigorously tested for safety and effectiveness, and to keep the message positive about vaccines.

Another way pediatricians may be able to convince these parents to change their minds is to remind them that all medical personnel are required to receive an annual flu vaccine to protect their patients which greatly reduces the spread of influenza which can and does kill people each year. 

Pediatricians can only do so much.  The states of California, Mississippi and West Virginia have passed laws eliminating all non-medical exemptions, including religious and philosophical exemptions for not vaccinating children.  If you think about it, a law like that is really not much different from our current seat belt law – how many of us would deliberately not buckle our children into a car seat to protect them from injury or death in the fairly rare but possible chance of a car accident? 

More communication on this topic is necessary to get parents to understand that we are putting all of us in danger – with more international travel and fewer children being vaccinated, this will only lead to a dangerous and deadly scenario of these diseases eventually making a comeback. 

Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children need to remember it’s not just about their child.  Immunizations protect the very young, the sick and the elderly who are most vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases and they depend on all of us to make sure that happens.