People who choose to be unvaccinated are infecting infants under fifteen months who have not the received the vaccine, healthy people, and people with weakened immune systems. Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) is a viral disease that is very infectious and can be transmitted from person to person via large respiratory droplets. aappublications.org. Dr. Patton states, "in addition to the short-term effects caused by measles, lasting results can include brain damage and even death." There is no cure for measles, mumps, and rubella. The best chance for any child to be protected is to receive the vaccine. There is no scientific proof that receiving the MMR vaccine will cause autism in children. Furthermore, the MMR vaccine helps protects the immune system fight against this disease by helping in defending itself. This vaccine has been found to have led up to a decrease in the incidence of measles, mumps and rubella in which some cases have repercussions for their children. Thus making it important for the parents to educate themselves about the benefits of their children receiving this vaccine.
Another vaccine that parents need to be educated about is the HPV vaccine. When doctors bring up the importance of the HPV vaccine to parents; they are quick to decline the vaccine. Many parents who are against this vaccine believe that if they consent to vaccinate their children against HPV, they will be giving their blessing for their children to out and have sex. Some parents still believe Michele Bachmann's claim about the HPV vaccine causing mental retardation in children. polifact.org What parents need to realize is, "The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prevents cancer, HPV is can be sexually transmitted, is needed for children around age 11 to receive the vaccine, and giving an 11 year old protection against sexually transmitted disease. "The vaccine will not encourage children to become sexually active" (Kempner).
