- Families want to do everything possible to protect their children from preventable diseases. Shots, also called vaccinations or immunizations, are the best way to do this.
- Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, mumps, flu, and chickenpox are still a threat that causes hospitalizations and deaths every year.
- Shots protect children from serious illness and complications like amputation of an arm or leg, paralysis, hearing loss, convulsions, brain damage, and death.
- Outbreaks of preventable diseases can occur when parents decide not to vaccinate their children.
- Vaccination is safe and effective. All vaccines undergo long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and the federal government to make sure they are safe.
- Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians strongly support protecting children with recommended vaccinations.
- Vaccination protects others you care about, including family members, friends and grandparents.
- If children aren’t vaccinated, they can spread disease to little babies or those with weak immune systems who can’t fight off germs like people with cancer.
- We all have a responsibility to protect each other and each other’s children by getting our own family members their shots.
- Vaccines can save your family time and money. A child with a vaccine-preventable disease can be denied attendance at schools or child care facilities.
Source: Immunization Action Coalition, Top Ten Reasons to Protect Your Child by Vaccinating, www.immunize.org, www.vaccineinformation.org