Why vaccinating our children is so important
Boost Oregon recognizes that parents will do everything possible to prevent disease and make sure that their children are healthy. Vaccination is the best way to do that.
Stops Disease — Vaccines protect children against 14 diseases.
Protects those who cannot be vaccinated — Young babies, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems sometimes can’t get vaccinated against certain diseases.
Keeps our community healthy — When most of us are vaccinated, we can create community immunity to protect us all.
Strengthens your immunity — Vaccines train the body to fight off diseases.
Benefits us all — By choosing to vaccinate, we can put an end to certain diseases.
Common questions and concerns we've heard from fellow parents
Aren't there harmful ingredients in vaccines?+
Ingredients, also called additives, are added to vaccines to protect against disease and ensure that the vaccines are safe, sterile, and effective. Certain ingredients, called ajudvants, used in vaccines help a child’s body produce the disease-fighting antibodies it needs .
Information about specific ingredients:Aluminum: Many parents have heard warnings about too much aluminum in childhood vaccines. There is no need for parents to fear aluminum. It is the most common metal found in nature, is part of our everyday environment, and is critical for making vaccines effective. In fact, a child gets more aluminum from breast milk or formula than from a vaccine. Mercury/Thimerosal: Oregon has banned thimerosal in pediatric vaccines necessary for school entry immunization requirements. Since 2001, vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for children under six years of age are thimerosal-free, except for some formulations of the influenza (flu) vaccine, which contain a trace amount. Even if mercury were in vaccines, numerous studies show no evidence of vaccines containing thimerosal to have harmed humans.
There's a whooping cough outbreak in my community. What do I need to know to protect myself and my family?+
If you have questions about a specific disease like whooping cough (pertussis), measles, or any other vaccine-preventable disease, check out the Pink Book and click on the relevant chapter.
Can I space out my child's shots?+
Choosing to delay vaccinations leaves children at risk when they need the protection the most. Children are vaccinated at a young age when they are most susceptible to the diseases they are vaccinated against. Studies show no increased risk of side effects from getting multiple vaccines at one time. Unvaccinated children are more likely to get diseases. One study showed that children who were unvaccinated for whooping cough (pertussis) were at least eight times more likely to get the disease.
Can vaccines cause autism?+
Vaccines do not cause autism. There have been 107 different studies looking for a possible connection between vaccines and autism. None have found evidence of a link. For more information about the causes of autism, check out the Autism Science Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting autism research. The myth that vaccines cause autism originated in 1998 by a British physician, Andrew Wakefield. That year, he published a study claiming that the MMR vaccine might cause a developmental regression that looked like autism. In 2010, this study was fully retracted by its publisher, and the study was found to be scientifically unsound because Wakefield manipulated and falsified his data. In May 2010, Great Britain’s General Medical Council revoked Dr. Wakefield’s medical license.