Why hesitancy to give vaccines threatens all children’s health

Podcaster Tim Ferris has said, “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” The actor Patrick Swayze believed that, “Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.” Parents who are reluctant to have their children vaccinated might benefit from those insights.

According to a study published in Pediatric Clinics of North America, 6% to 23% of parents express “vaccine hesitancy” — and the percentage is even greater when it comes to the flu and HPV vaccines. As of April 2023, only 55% of children had received a flu shot, down a full 7% from 2020. And recent studies reveal only about a third of teens are fully vaccinated against HPV. Another study found that kindergartners in Georgia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Kentucky had a 5% to 10% decline in vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella (the MMR vaccine) in the 20202021 school year.

These vaccines protect children from potentially devastating diseases and brain problems, and protect others who are unvaccinated or who are elderly and vulnerable. For example, 10 to 20 babies who are too young to be vaccinated for whooping cough die from it each year.

For more data, go to www. healthychildren.org and search for “Vaccine Safety” and check out the vaccine info in “YOU: Raising Your Child: The Owner’s Manual from First Breath to First Grade”; Dr. Oz and I interviewed more than 150 “experts” on all sides of the issue and concluded the benefit of receiving vaccines was more than 40,000 times the risk.