Many parents deliberately don’t vaccinate their children according to a recent U.S. study, reports Health Day News. Many California parents are choosing to bypass the requirement that their children be fully immunized before attending school by signing an affidavit that says "all or some immunizations are contrary to my beliefs.”
At some schools, 1 in 5 kindergarten students remains unvaccinated, putting these kids and their schoolmates at risk of preventable infectious diseases. These are the schools where authorities are concerned that ‘herd immunity’ has been compromised. ‘Herd immunity’ is the protection offered to unimmunized people when most everyone else has been immunized or is otherwise unsusceptible.
This news follows a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finding that with more unvaccinated kids, the U.S. is now experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 15 years. Experts have also blamed a recent resurgence in cases of whooping cough (pertussis), especially in California, on declining child vaccination rates.
Parents are choosing not to vaccinate for many reasons, but many hesitate because they fear the risk associated with vaccines is greater than the risks associated with the preventable diseases. Many also believe the now-discredited notion that the shot might raise autism risk.
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