Immunizations can protect against diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox.
Some of these diseases can be a serious threat to your baby and other family members. The level of vaccine preventable disease has been reduced by more than 99 percent since the introduction of vaccines by Dr. Edward Jenner 200 years ago. Failure to immunize leads to new outbreaks of the disease. A major cause of this epidemic was the failure to vaccinate children on time at 12 to 15 months of age. Ten vaccine-preventable diseases are potentially fatal.