Survey: Many Parents Delay, Skip Vaccines

Many parents choose not to follow the recommended vaccine schedule for their children, a new survey has found. About 13% of parents with children under age 6 said they followed a different schedule. About 2% refused all vaccines. More than 80% of those who followed a different vaccine schedule said it was safer. Almost as many said it allowed them to skip vaccines that were not needed. Even some parents who followed the recommended schedule had doubts about it. About 1 out of 5 of these parents said that delaying doses was safer than the recommended schedule. The survey was done in 2010. It included 750 households. Among those who followed an alternate schedule, about half refused one or more vaccines. About half delayed some vaccines. More than one-third delayed the second and third doses for multi-dose vaccines.