Are Vaccines Necessary? Pediatricians Say ‘Yes,’ But More Parents Believe Otherwise

CBS news reports pediatricians are seeing more parents are not getting their children vaccinated due to the belief that the illnesses those vaccines fight have been wiped out in the United States.

“I think parents who have concerns about vaccines should continue to discuss them with their pediatricians”, said Dr. Catherine Hough-Telford, who led the survey of the American Academy of Pediatrics members.

Although all 50 states and the District of Columbia require that schoolchildren be immunized against a broad range of diseases, most states allow parents to opt out if they have a religious objection to vaccines and 18 allow for “philosophical exemptions” for those who object based on personal, moral or other grounds, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. About 11% of providers in 2013 reported they would dismiss patients for continual vaccination refusal, up from 6% in 2006.

The most common reason parents gave, according to doctors? The figure is up by 12% from 2006 when 74.5% of pediatricians said parents refused a vaccine for their child.

The 2013 survey also asked about vaccine delays as well as straight out refusals which the 2006 survey did not.

The new survey results are published online August 29 in the journal Pediatrics. The recommendations go as far as stating that pediatricians reserve the right to exclude anti-vaccine families from the practice who refuse to change their minds.

Almquist, Hough-Telford and other public health officials say the science is clear: Vaccines are safe and effective and adverse reactions, while possible, are rare.

“I’ve been a pediatrician now for 40 years and the last night I was a pediatric resident many, many, years ago I watched a handsome little toddler die of meningitis”, Edwards said.

“This is very frightening to us as pediatricians because in this global world, their child absolutely could get polio”, McCarthy said.

First, the era of the false notion that “vaccines cause autism” isn’t gone, despite mountains of research proving there is no link between vaccines and autism.

Personalize the positive message about vaccines.

Oftentimes pediatricians will face a challenge in their practice: Concerned parents who hesitate or refuse to vaccinate their children.

Doctors also can present tales of tragedy from their own experience, she added. The average number of parents that refused all vaccines went from 2.1 to 3.3 percent. That’s the power of vaccine. “It’s about your neighbor’s newborn. It’s about the kid at school who can’t receive a vaccine because he’s on chemotherapy”.

“I’m not surprised by that”, said Dr. Paul Offit, the head of the infectious diseases department at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

In a new report, the AAP is firmly declaring its support for removing all non-medical exemptions.

“I think this study reaffirms the fact that we should try our best to understand where the parent is coming from”, said Almquist. The 2014 measles outbreak in California also served as “an education” about the importance of immunization, he said.