Immunizations: Are They the Right Choice for Your Baby?

If parents refuse immunizations for their children, this means that the rare, serious adverse events that occur from vaccines would be avoided. The risk is one in a million, Dr. Hainer says.

In some cases, rejecting an immunization is medically necessary. Nancy P. Hemenway of Arlington, Virginia, decided not to have her youngest daughter immunized due to concerns about compromising her already somewhat stressed immune system and because she has a disorder that at present mandates she stay in a homebound instruction situation from school. "Before she was pulled out of school by her doctor, we were put in a position of the school mandating a shot the pediatrician didn't recommend for her age," she says. "We told the school no and as a result, ended up signing a 'religious' exemption form in order to dodge the shot."