Key factors in a parents’ decision regarding vaccines are the following; trust in their healthcare provider, personal experiences, tradition, and knowledge of diseases. Primarily, research shows that parents rely on the advice given from their health care provider, however when there is a lack of trust or a parent feels as though their concerns are not addressed adequately, parents look elsewhere for guidance. Conflicted parents often result to the internet for information which ultimately results to stumbling upon horror stories regarding vaccinations. A parents’ knowledge of the diseases being vaccinated against plays a substantial role in the decision making process. Nearly eradicated for many years, parents do not think about how many lives were lost to these now preventable diseases. While there are risks in everything we do in life, parents tend to categorize vaccines as a “high-risk” event. Scientific research says otherwise. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), “In the form of allergic reactions or severe side effects, the incidence of death is so rare they can’t even be calculated” (publichealth.org). In the instance of a severe reaction to a vaccine the CDC reports roughly one case per one to two million vaccinations. In order to put this into perspective, there is a higher probability of being struck by lightning than having a severe reaction to a vaccination. Parents also tend to leave out a rather important variable in their risk assessment as well. That variable is unknown and alarming; how many times could your child come in contact with a carrier of these preventable diseases? As more parents decide against vaccinations that number will rise, leaving their children susceptible to these preventable diseases. Outbreaks of these diseases are inevitable as the vaccination rate decreases therefore putting entire communities at risk. This risk is evident …show more content…
Publicheath.org provides parents with reliable information and clears up some of these myths. As an example, many parents believe that vaccines lead to autism. In 1997 a “study published by Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon”, (publichealth.org). The article claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine was to blame for the spike of autism in children. Parents do not seem to know that this paper was retracted and discredited. The author was stripped of his medical license as well. Another myth that seems to be contributing to a parents’ decision against vaccinations is that since infection rates in the United States are low, their children are not at risk for contracting one of these diseases. This is not the case and as parents continue to decide against vaccinations the disease rate in the U.S will increase. Tourists from around the world visit the U.S possibly bringing diseases with them. If the percentage of vaccinated individuals falls below 95%, preventable diseases like the measles will have a fighting chance of an