The American Academy of Pediatrics today told the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform that if parents choose not to vaccinate their children because they have heard unfounded, unscientific misinformation about vaccine safety, the nation will experience outbreaks of dangerous diseases. Most infectious diseases can still be a touch or a sneeze away and unvaccinated children will pay the price with their health or even their lives. Samuel L. Katz, M.D., provided testimony on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Vaccine benefits far outweigh any recognized minimal risk.
Vaccination is the only way a parent can protect their child from contracting a disease from an unvaccinated, infected person, including a child who goes to the same day care or plays on the same playground. Since there is no way to know who is or isn't vaccinated, don't risk your child contracting a disease. The chances of a child having an adverse reaction to a vaccine is minuscule compared to the risk of disease your child faces if you don't vaccinate. When it comes to public health problems like infectious diseases, the choice of an individual impacts the health of others in a community. Immunizations have a clear community benefit in addition to its benefit to the individual patients.