Most parents believe vaccination is a good way to protect their children from potentially deadly diseases, but a study shows more than half still worry about the possibility of vaccine side effects. The study concludes: Although parents overwhelmingly share the belief that vaccines are a good way to protect their children from disease, these same parents express concerns regarding the potential adverse effects and especially seem to question the safety of newer vaccines. Although information is available to address many vaccine safety concerns, such information is not reaching many parents in an effective or convincing manner.
Here’s an article on the survey from WebMD:

The study shows 88% of parents follow the child immunization schedule recommended by their doctor, but 54% are concerned about serious vaccine side effects.

Researcher Gary L. Freed, MD, MPH of the department of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and his colleagues say parents who are concerned about vaccine side effects are less likely to vaccinate their children. In fact, the study showed one in every eight parents has refused at least one vaccine recommended by their child’s physician.

Newer vaccines, such as varicella, meningococcal conjugate, and HPV (human papillomavirus) were more likely to be refused than older vaccines like the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella vaccine).

In the study, researchers surveyed 1,552 parents about their attitudes regarding vaccines. Overall, 90% of parents said vaccines were a good way to protect their children from disease, and 88% said they generally do what their doctors say regarding vaccination.

However, the results show that despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting a link between autism and vaccinations, more than one in five parents continue to believe that some vaccines cause autism in healthy children.

Women were more likely than men to believe some vaccines cause autism, to be concerned about vaccine side effects, and to have ever refused a vaccine recommended for their children by a doctor.

The study also showed that Hispanic parents were more likely than white or African-American parents to say they followed their doctor’s recommended immunization schedule and less likely to have ever refused a vaccine. But Hispanic parents were also more likely to believe in a link between autism and vaccinations and be concerned about vaccine side effects.

“Although information is available to address many vaccine safety concerns, such information is not reaching parents in an effective or convincing manner,” write the researchers. “Continued high childhood immunization rates will be at risk if current safety concerns are not addressed effectively and increase in the future, resulting in more parents refusing vaccines.”

You can read more about vaccine myths in my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child.

Here are other blogs in this series you might find useful:

• • Radio Listeners ‘Angry as Hornets’ About Dr. Walt’s Comments on Childhood Vaccination
  • Doctors Debate Delayed Vaccine Schedule
  • More on the Risks of Not Vaccinating Your Children
  • Vaccine Myth #1: Vaccines Cause Autism
  • Special court rules against families who claim vaccines caused autism
  • Vaccine Myth #2: Vaccines Don’t Work
  • Vaccine Myth #3: Vaccines Aren’t Necessary
  • Vaccine Myth #4: Vaccines Are Unsafe
  • Vaccine Myth #5: Infants Are Too Young to Get Vaccinated
  • Vaccine Myth #6: It’s Better to Be Naturally Infected Than Immunized
  • Vaccine Myth #7: Vaccines Weaken the Immune System
  • Vaccine Myth #8: A Preservative Contained in Many Vaccines Harms Children
  • Vaccine Myth #9: Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Occur More Often in Vaccinated People Than in Unvaccinated People
  • Vaccine Myth #10: Vaccines, If Administered during the First Two Years of Life, Can Cause Diabetes
  • Vaccine Myth #11: The DTP Vaccine Caused Deafness in the 1994 Miss America Beauty Pageant Winner
  • Vaccine Myth #12: The Polio Virus Vaccine Is Contaminated with a Virus That Causes Cancer
  • Vaccine Myth #13: Vaccinations are made from aborted babies
  • Doctors and Families Asked to “Just Say no to New Aborted Fetal Vaccine