More Than 20 Percent Of U.S. Children Aren’t Properly Immunized
By MedHeadlines • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Children's Health, Infectious Disease, Lifestyle, Prevention, VaccinationsParents, caregivers and healthcare providers have spent the past week learning more about the benefits of infant immunization through an awareness program launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. The program focused on encouraging parents to become informed medical consumers by having meaningful discussions with their children’s pediatricians about vaccines.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said a substantial number of children in the United States aren’t adequately protected from vaccine-preventable diseases. “The suffering or death of even one child from a vaccine-preventable disease is an unnecessary human tragedy. We need to renew our efforts to ensure that no child, adolescent or adult will have to needlessly suffer.”
Dr. Schuchat said immunization is one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th century. There are vaccines available to protect children from 15 diseases before age two. Despite recent gains in infant immunization coverage, more than 20 percent of the nation’s two year olds are not fully immunized against infectious diseases to which they are “especially vulnerable.” More than four million children are born in the U.S. each year and every single child needs to be vaccinated.
Although infants are more vulnerable to certain diseases than older children and adults, it is still important for adults to be vaccinated in order to keep themselves healthy so they do not spread infections to vulnerable people.
Source: CDC
You could just as easily change her quote to read “The suffering or death of even one child from a vaccine is an unnecessary human tragedy. We need to renew our efforts to ensure that no child, adolescent or adult will have to needlessly suffer.”
There are REASONS why people are not vaccinating their kids, and not all of them have to do with autism and mercury. In addition, it’s near impossible to have a meaningful discussion with your pediatrician when they refuse to discuss any other possibility than full vaccination, on schedule, and break out the scare tactics. How dare parents question the wisdom of the all mighty pediatrician? HA.