Therefore, an increasing number of parents are failing to immunize their children because they fear the potential problems that the vaccine could cause the baby outweigh the potential damage the disease could cause her. In this sense, the success of large scale immunization could be laying the groundwork for the failure of ongoing vaccination programs, unless people are somehow reminded of the mayhem that these uncontrolled diseases can produce. For example, polio was universally feared 50 years ago. Since it has been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere, due largely to successful immunization programs polio is no longer feared and just barely remembered as the threat to public health that it once posed. Critics of the current vaccination schedules have their own rationale for not endorsing immunizations.
Self interest is, at least, a part of their objection.
When weighing the evidence of the risks of disease vs. risks of the corresponding vaccine, their opposition appears irresponsible. The risks and benefits of vaccines and their respective diseases are published by researchers in medical literature. This literature is critically reviewed by other researchers and clinicians. It is available to the general public in libraries throughout the country. The judgments about vaccine policy are made based on this large body of medical work.