Should Children Be Immunized?

Posting Date: 02/18/1999

Renee: My 12-month-old has had all her immunization shots. I overheard an expectant mother talking with the mother of an infant who said that immunizations were dangerous and unnecessary. The mother of the infant hadn't had her child immunized at all. What do you think about all of this?

Dr. Dean: I think it's basically child abuse and the child should be taken from the mother, because she's obviously incapable of being a good mother.

I say that with tongue-in-cheek, but it's close to how I feel about this whole thing of not immunizing your children. I think such a person could be considered guilty of something fairly heinous, because vaccinating our children is so very important to their health.

Depending on the disease, we need to vaccinate at least 80 to 90 percent of the population to prevent the spread of a potentially deadly disease. And though I wish they could, some vaccines just can't give you 100 percent protection.

A lot of people make health decisions from watching television and have no idea where reliable sources of health information really come from. If we had an outbreak of a disease, their children and other children would suffer, and because of this, I believe they should have to bear responsibility.

When it comes to health matters, it's kind of funny and symbolic how easily we get thrown off track.

For example, if I said it was unsafe to fly in a plane that does not have wings on it, everyone would say oh, sure I know that, or if I told you that a pill could make your car get 500 miles to the gallon, you would laugh. But somehow, health misinformation takes on a life of its own.

With diseases like whooping cough, she will probably get away with it, and most likely that is because you have been a responsible mother and gotten your child vaccinated. Whooping cough is still very much with us and we still see outbreaks of the disease.

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