T
he study also found that the rate of documented vaccine refusal - in other words, doctors charting parental refusal of vaccines for their
children - went up by nearly 70 percent for children born in 2013 compared to those born in 2010 (4.2 percent versus 2.5 percent,
respectively).
The result of vaccine refusal can be dangerous, not only for the child who is vulnerable to diseases like measles and diphtheria, but for the
community at large.
It played itself out in Minnesota last year, when a measles outbreak in the Twin Cities exceeded the total number of cases reported in the entire
U.S. the year before. Health ofcials didn't have to look far for the cause. Spread of the highly infectious disease started in the state's Somali-
American community.