The complications of disease far outweigh the potential side effects of vaccines. Immunizations are effective. Vaccines have greatly reduced the burden of disease, disability and mortality caused by vaccine-preventable diseases. Please see the table below. Teams of providers and parents, including parents of children who experienced adverse effects from vaccines, are involved with the development and review of these materials, and they are published in the Federal Register for comment.
Children have a right to be protected against serious diseases .
The vaccines required for school and day care in Massachusetts protect children against 10 serious diseases. Current school and day care immunization requirements have virtually eliminated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases among children. The community has a right to be protected against serious diseases. Children who are unimmunized are not only at risk themselves, but pose a danger of transmission of disease to other children who cannot be immunized because they are too young or because they have medical conditions that weaken their immune systems to the point where they cannot be adequately protected by vaccines. Due to medical advances, the number of children and adults surviving treatment for leukemia, with organ and bone marrow transplants, and those with other conditions that weaken the immune system, is growing.