Politics e2000 Iowa Capitol Insights Kate Thompson reports from the Iowa state capitol and beyond. Forecast Sunny High 60 - 65 Current conditions for Sioux City . The mark of a newspaper approved classified. Terms of use agreement Best viewed with Netscape Communicator . On behalf of the Siouxland District Board of Health, we would like to clarify some recently printed anti-vaccine information.
Immunization is one of the most effective methods of preventing disease.
Infectious diseases killed or disabled thousands of children annually in the United States prior to the development of vaccines. Since the introduction of vaccines, the level of vaccine-preventable disease has been reduced by 99 percent. However, the few cases currently reported in the U.S. each year could rapidly become thousands of cases without the protection that vaccines offer. Despite the benefits of immunizations, millions of children in our country are not receiving vaccines on schedule. Children should receive approximately 80 percent of their immunizations before age 2.