100,000 children in the U.S. have not had their regularly scheduled vaccinations, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.
Health officials are expressing concern.
“With kids not getting vaccinated we see an increase in diseases that would have been prevented, measles, mumps, and pertussis. Those are diseases that should have been wiped out by now but we’re seeing increasing cases,” says Dr. Charise Rohr-Allegrini, San Antonio Program Director for The Immunization Partnership, a non-profit that endeavors to help communities make smart choices about vaccine-preventable diseases.
In Texas the state health department reports almost six million school age children have not had all required vaccinations. By law in Texas parents can receive an exemption from immunizations for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. A 2016-2017 DSHS report finds 52,756 students from kindergarten through 12th grade had filed for conscientious exemptions.
“Fear, misinformation, the power of groups that are opposed to vaccines that rely on junk science, and use just enough scientific words that people believe it unfortunately,” she says.
Nationwide 70% of all children have had their shots. Last year an estimated 1.3% of children who were born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated, an increase from previous estimates.
Each year an estimated three million people die from vaccine-preventable diseases.