Childhood vaccination concerns

[Little_Girl]

Despite the strong vaccine safety systems in place in the United States, some parents remain concerned about the safety of childhood vaccines and the immunization schedule. These concerns have led some parents to not allow their children to be given some or all of the recommended vaccines. Diseases that can be prevented by vaccines are much more likely to develop in children whose parents have refused one or more vaccines.
Specifically, unvaccinated children are

23 times more likely to contract pertussis (whooping cough)
8.6 times more likely to contract varicella (chickenpox)
6.5 times more likely to contract pneumococcal infections

Children in the United States still die from vaccine-preventable diseases. In 2008, five children developed life-threatening Haemophilus influenza type b infection in Minnesota, the most since 1992. Three of the infected children, including one child who died, had been given no vaccine because their parents had delayed or refused the vaccine.