October 4, 2011
More than one in 10 parents say they don't follow the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control for vaccinations in their children. That's according to a new survey published in the journal Pediatrics.
The CDC says their schedule is the best plan to prevent diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella, and even the flu.
Researchers polled over 700 parents of children between 6 months and 6 years old throughout the U.S. Of those parents, 2 percent refused all vaccines for their kids. Of those who did not follow the CDC recommendations, nearly half said they determined their schedule themselves. Only a small percentage reported using a well-known alternative schedule.
The parents' reasoning behind their decision? They believed it "seemed safer."
Many of the parents choosing not to follow the CDC schedule did not have a regular health care provider for their children.
Of those who did follow the plan, many were "on the fence" about vaccinations and still said they believed delaying vaccines was safer.
The authors say these numbers stress the need for education about the safety and necessity of the recommended vaccines.
Experts say using alternative vaccination schedules raises the risk of contracting and spreading diseases that could be prevented with a vaccine.
According to the study, measles-mumps-rubella was the most-delayed vaccine. The next biggest was the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine.
