Who Should Decide When Kids Are Immunized?

I don't think it's right that children are required to be immunized before starting school. It should be up to parents to decide.
- Wendy

It's tempting to think that kids don't need to be immunized against diseases we don't often hear about anymore, like polio and measles. But the reason we don't hear much about such diseases is because of widespread immunization against them.

Although they occur rarely, most diseases that can be prevented by vaccines still exist in the world, and today's ease of travel means an outbreak could occur anywhere. Not long ago, a measles outbreak caused many deaths in the United States, partly because some people never received protection against the virus as children. Immunizations are the best way to protect kids from these devastating diseases.

Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: January 2013

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