States require children to be immunized in order to enter school, and 95 percent or more of American children are adequately vaccinated by kindergarten. Yet about one million pre-school children are not adequately protected against possibly fatal illnesses. With increasing numbers of children more readily exposed to infectious disease in day-care settings and elsewhere, complete immunization by age 2 is critical. Failure to immunize can lead to new outbreaks of disease. Over half of the deaths were children under 5 years of age.
Vaccines are cost-effective.