When Rin was two months pregnant with their second child, she developed a rash. Ultimately Vanessa was found to be profoundly deaf and almost died of pneumonia at four months. She needed a feeding tube until she was four years old. Vanessa is now in prekindergarten. For this couple, the lesson was clear.
Parents can take nothing for granted.
Unfortunately, immunization's enormous success has produced a false sense of security. Only 73 percent had been fully immunized with Hib. An unvaccinated child exposed to any of these diseases is far more likely to contract it. This has since been completely disproved by two independent British studies and research done in Sweden that has been accepted by the British Medical Research Council, WHO and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, thousands of parents in Britain refuse the shot.