Jenalin Uy, M.D.
Pediatrician
Sees patients at the Marshfield Clinic Center in Minocqua
Question: Why does my child need so many shots?
We hear that question from many parents because undeniably there are a lot of immunization shots.
We follow the federal Centers for Disease Control recommendations, which fortunately allow many of these shots to be combined safely in one visit.
We have more shots than even a few years ago because, as science advances, we are able to protect your child against more diseases than ever before.
Even though some of the diseases we have vaccinated against for years are no longer common, they could return very easily if we stopped vaccinating.
It is not uncommon to have outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, chickenpox and other diseases when vaccination rates drop.
These diseases may seem mild, but remember that before vaccine was available, about one in 500 kids who got chickenpox had to be hospitalized and about 50 children died of this disease every year.
A persistent rumor that we keep hearing is that some vaccines can cause autism.
This issue has been closely studied for years, and all the scientific studies and reviews have found no relationship between vaccines and autism.
As a pediatrician, I couldn’t imagine ordering a vaccine if I knew this could be a possible outcome.
Marshfield Clinic provides
pediatric care in a number of our centers.