But a surprising number of parents are making the decision not to have their child vaccinated-despite physician's warnings. Other parents simply don't know the vaccination timetable. Still other parents, an estimated one percent, choose not have their children vaccinated due to religious and philosophical reasons. While that number sounds disarmingly low, the reality of each disease can be quite severe. Pertussis, for example, causes violent spells of coughing that make it quite hard for a child to eat, drink, or even breathe.
More serious complications can ensue.
One child in 10 with pertussis also contracts pneumonia. Tragically, whooping cough is responsible for nine deaths each year, according to the National Immunization Program. These unfortunate deaths are, nonetheless, a positive reduction from the 9,000 pertussis-related deaths prior to the introduction of the vaccination. Since pertussis is an infectious disease caused by a germ that lives in the nose, throat, and mouth, Katz said immunizations remain the single most effective weapon parents have to protect their children. Although the Unites States is relatively free of illnesses that once plagued our country, Katz said the global community permits easy spread of these diseases from anywhere in the world via jet travel to international airports.