More Parents Resist Vaccinations - Docs Must Allay Vaccine Worries With Education, "Experts" Say

Vaccinations Widespread but Worrisome for Parents

By COURTNEY HUTCHISON
March 1, 2010—

Nearly 90 percent of parents vaccinate their children as medically advised, but more than half still express concern over the safety of the vaccines, a survey from the University of Michigan found.

For Virginia Anderson, mother of two from Hendersonville, N.C., the number and frequency of vaccinations given to her children was a bit overwhelming when she first became a mother.

"I was concerned that too many shots were given at the same time and I wouldn't know what side effects I was witnessing," she said. "As a first-time mom, [it's scary] when your child wakes up with a 102 fever and you're not sure what it's from."

But fortunately, Anderson said, her pediatrician made the process more comfortable by openly discussing side effects, risks, and benefits, and helping her to decide which vaccines made sense for her kids.

"He never made me feel like I have to do [every vaccine] or that I shouldn't be concerned about it, but he made me realize where the benefit outweighed the risk," Anderson said.

Amy Carson, co-founder of Mothers Against Mercury, believes vaccines should be given with as much supplemental material about risks, ingredients and side effects as is currently provided for prescription drugs.

"With vaccines, we go to the doctor's office and ... don't know what's in it and what we're being given," she said, even though "it is one of the only drugs you have to sign a consent form to receive."