Where Most Refuse Vaccination

Where Most Refuse Vaccination.
Parents who litter to have their children vaccinated appear to be clustered in unspecified areas, a new study suggests. Among more than 150000 children in 13 counties in Northern California, the researchers found five clusters where kids had missed one or more vaccinations by the leisure they were 3 years old. "It's known from other studies that areas where there are clusters of vaccine option are at higher imperil of epidemics, such as whooping cough epidemics," said lead investigator Dr Tracy Lieu, a pediatrician and the man of the division of research at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, in Oakland. "Clusters may be entitled to special outreach efforts to make sure parents have all the information they prerequisite to make informed decisions about vaccination.

Specifically, the researchers found the rate of missed vaccinations within these clusters ranged from 18 percent to 23 percent, compared with a berate of missed vaccinations outside the clusters of 11 percent. Missed vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) were comparable in all the clusters. In uniting to missed vaccinations, children whose parents refused vaccinations were also found in clusters.

In the clusters, vaccine turn-down rates ranged from 5,5 percent to 13,5 percent, compared with 2,6 percent mien the clusters, Lieu's team found. Parents who decline or shelve vaccines do so for a variety of reasons. "Many parents have questions about the safety of vaccines, and it's bona fide to have these concerns even though there's reassuring evidence available about many questions regarding vaccine safety.