To our patients...
Why vaccinate? Your pediatrician knows that you care about your child’s health and safety.
That is why you need to get all the scientific facts from a medical professional you trust before making any
decisions based on stories you may have seen or heard on TV, the Internet, or from other parents.
- Vaccines work. Most childhood vaccines are 90% to 99% effective in preventing disease. And if a vaccinated
child does get the disease, the symptoms are usually less serious than in a child who has not been vaccinated.
There may be mild side effects, like swelling where the shot was given, but they do not last long. It is rare for side
effects to be serious.
- Vaccines are safe. All vaccines must be tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA will not let a
vaccine be given unless it has been proven to be safe and to work well in children. The data gets reviewed again
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American
Academy of Family Physicians before a vaccine is officially recommended to be given to children. Also, the FDA
monitors where and how vaccines are made. The places where vaccines are made must be licensed. They are
regularly inspected and each vaccine lot is safety-tested.
- Vaccines are necessary. Your pediatrician believes that your children should receive all recommended
childhood vaccines. In many parts of the world many vaccine-preventable diseases are still common. Since
diseases may be brought into the United States by persons visiting areas with current disease outbreaks, it's
important that your children are vaccinated.
- Vaccines are studied. To make sure the vaccine continues to be safe, the FDA and the CDC created the Vaccine
Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). All doctors must report serious side effects of vaccines to VAERS so
they can be studied. Parents can also file reports with VAERS. For more information about VAERS, visit www.
vaers.hhs.gov or call the toll-free VAERS information line at 800/822-7967.
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