Latinos not convinced of vaccines

Child vaccine safety concerns persist
Baltimore Sun, March 1, 2010

While the vast majority of parents believe vaccines protect their children from life-threatening illnesses, many continue to have concerns about the safety of childhood vaccines, according to a new national survey.

More than half -- 54 percent -- of the 1,552 parents surveyed said they have serious worries about adverse affects and overall vaccine safety, according to the findings, appearing today in the journal Pediatrics. And nearly 1 in 8 parents said they refused to have their child vaccinated against at least one recommended vaccine.

News of the 2009 survey comes just a month after the Lancet retracted a controversial article from a dozen years ago that first linked the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism, sparking a global panic over the safety of routine childhood inoculations.

Nevertheless, more than 1 in 5 parents believe that some vaccines cause autism, the survey found. The study calls that figure "disturbingly high."

Well before the Lancet retraction, the evidence had been stacking up for years: study after study showed child vaccines are safe and effective ways at preventing a host of horrible diseases. So why so much fear among parents?

Many simply aren't getting the correct information, the paper states. Public health education campaigns are clearly falling short and more aggressive outreach is needed, said the study's authors, a team of University of Michigan researchers.

Of course, the survey is limited by it's small sample size. Still, it drives home a fascinating debate.

In addition, it had a few interesting demographic tidbits: Latino parents were more likely than whites or blacks to believe that vaccines cause autism. And black parents were more likely than whites or Latinos to have refused a pediatrician-recommended vaccine. Overall, women were more likely to have concerns about childhood vaccines than men.

Those findings should be taken into account when building effective public education programs, the author said.