Parents Refusing to Get Kids Vaccinated

The above headline comes from the Feb. 9, 2004 issue of the AMA News. The article came with a sub-title that read, " Physicians are increasingly confronting parents who are concerned about the safety of childhood immunizations."

According to a recent University of Michigan study that surveyed by mail a random national sample of 750 pediatricians and 750 family physicians, an increasing number of parents express concerns about rumored ill effects like autism, autoimmune diseases, compromised immunity, learning disabilities, diabetes and paralysis. Gary L. Freed, MD, MPH, the study's lead investigator and director of general pediatrics at the university's health system in Ann Arbor, Michigan explained the purpose of the study, "We wanted to quantify the degree to which parents were refusing or expressing concerns." He continued, "Our findings indicated to me that parental concern and refusal is a relatively common occurrence."

The study, originally published in the January American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that 93% of pediatricians and 60% of family physicians reported that at least one parent had refused a vaccination for his or her child in the last year. Additionally, 69% percent of the physicians said that the number of concerns had increased substantially over the past year.

Although there continues to be much debate, the evidence continues to mount as to the dangers of adverse reactions from vaccinations. One such study was published on the "NewsWise" website from Northeastern University, and started with the headline, "New Research Suggests Link Between Vaccine Ingredients and Autism, ADHD." That article began with a chilling statement, "According to new research from Northeastern University pharmacy professor Richard Deth and colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University, there is an apparent link between exposure to certain neurodevelopmental toxins (ingredients found in vaccines) and an increased possibility of developing neurological disorders including autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder". This research was the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders and is published in the April 2004 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.