Few public health initiatives have had the same overwhelmingly positive impact as routine childhood immunizations. The current generation of children in the United States does not suffer the debilitating and often fatal illnesses visited upon their grandparents’ generation.

As recently as 1954, there were hundreds of deaths in the U.S. each year from polio, and tens of thousands of children were left paralyzed or permanently crippled. Last year, not a single case of wild polio was diagnosed in the U.S. Diphtheria killed 15,520 Americans in 1921 and zero Americans in 2001. A more recent vaccination success story has been the introduction of Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, which prevents several hundred deaths due to meningitis every year.

Over the past several years there have been many reports in the popular press and Internet about a possible link between autism spectrum disorders and vaccinations. There are more children being diagnosed with autism today than ever before.

There are also more vaccinations given to every child. We unfortunately do not know why the rate of autism is increasing. Children with autism show developmental abnormalities very early on in life, and with the frequency of immunizations during the first two years, the onset of autism often coincidentally occurs in the weeks or months after a vaccination.

However, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the National Centers for Disease Control and the Institute of Medicine have all independently examined the evidence and have found no link between vaccinations and autism. Studies examining the rate of autism in matched groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated children have shown no difference in the rate of autism.

Vaccinations unfortunately present a small risk of serious adverse effects, and a more substantial risk for mild reactions such as fever, irritability, and pain at the injection site. As both a pediatrician and a father of two young boys, I have to balance my professional acknowledgement of the overall safety of vaccines with my parental concern about possible serious reactions. When it came time for my children to receive their vaccinations, I made the decision that the potential benefits of vaccination far outweighed the potential risks. I made the decision also with community health in mind, as preventable infectious diseases increase substantially in frequency with even a small decrease in vaccination rates.

As a father, I understand the safety concerns shared by many parents. However remote the possibility of a serious adverse reaction to a vaccination, it is sometimes tempting to avoid immunizations altogether rather than risk that the rare reaction happens to my child. However, I know that if my children were left unvaccinated, they would have a much higher likelihood of suffering a life-threatening illness due to a preventable disease.

We know that every year, vaccinations prevent millions of deaths worldwide. We also know that vaccinations carry a small risk of serious adverse reactions. I advise anyone considering forgoing routine shots to talk to their grandparents and great-grandparents about the grim reality of infectious illnesses such as polio, measles, and diphtheria, prior to the introduction of vaccinations.

My objective as a health care provider is to help parents make informed decisions about the health care of their children. The best advice I can offer parents who are at the crossroads of the immunization debate, is to use scientifically credible resources (e.g., www.aap.org and www.immunize.org) to make informed decisions.

Dr. Paul works at Samaritan Mid-Valley Children’s Clinic in Albany. He can be reached at (541) 812-5111.