Vaccine refusals worry US doctors: study
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Vaccine refusals worry US doctors: study
Mon Oct 3, 4:04 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - More than a third of U.S. pediatricians surveyed said they would tell families who refuse all vaccinations for their children to look elsewhere for care, according to a study published on Monday.
Of 302 pediatricians questioned, 256 said they had encountered a parent who refused to let a child receive at least one vaccination in the previous 12 months, and 162 -- 39 percent of the group -- who had a parent refuse all vaccinations.
The refusals were most commonly based on safety concerns, worries about children getting multiple vaccines at once, philosophical reasons and religious beliefs, said the report from Chicago's Rush Medical College.
"In the case of parents refusing specific vaccines, 82 (28 percent of the doctors) said that they would ask the family to seek care elsewhere; for refusal of all vaccines, 116 (39 percent) of pediatricians said they would refer the family" to another doctor, said the report.
The reason physicians cite most often for wanting to drop such patients were lack of shared goals and lack of trust, added the study published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The study said the rate of unvaccinated children in the United States has risen significantly since 1995. While most parents continue to believe that vaccination is important, a large number express concern about safety, it said.
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World Health Organization said earlier this year that vaccines prevent more than 2 million deaths per year globally, mainly among children; but it said many Internet sites have appeared offering "unbalanced, misleading and alarming vaccine safety information" that is confusing both patients and health workers.
