NURSEWEEK: Parents skeptical of vaccines

Parents skeptical of vaccines

Wire Services
November 1, 2000


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Chicago. About 25 percent of parents who participated in a telephone survey of 1,600 parents said they believed children get too many immunizations, which they believe can weaken their child’s ability to fight diseases, according to results published in the November issue of Pediatrics.

According to the authors of the study, withholding vaccines could potentially place the "child – and their community – at risk for outbreaks of infectious disease."

The authors believe some of the skeptical views about vaccines may come from younger parents and pediatricians who haven’t lived through epidemics, thus underestimating the need for vaccines.

The Internet also may be a source of misinformation about vaccines. For example, online sources have erroneously linked the hepatitis B vaccine to multiple sclerosis and measles vaccines to autism, according to the authors.

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