A new study revealed that most parents are pressuring doctors to change their kids' vaccine schedules.
Unfortunately, most doctors give in to this request despite awareness that the delay can increase kids' risk of diseases.
While only as much as three percent refuse vaccinating their kids, most parents who agree are not willing to follow the recommended vaccine schedules and are forcing the doctors to change them.
Vaccine schedules were recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and designed to boost the children's immune systems and protect from infectious diseases.
Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado surveyed 815 pediatricians and family doctors across the United States in 2012. About 66 percent, or 534 of the participants, completed the survey.
The analysis showed that 93 percent of the doctors admitted that at least one parent requested to delay the vaccinations of their child. Twenty-one percent, on the other hand, said that at least 10 percent of families had the same request.
"I was surprised by over 20 percent of doctors saying 10 percent or more of their families (had asked) to spread out vaccines," Dr. Allison Kempe, study leader from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado, told Reuters.
Doctors explained to the parents the negative effects of changing the vaccine schedules, yet 37 percent of them complied with the requests.
"They feel torn," Kempe told Bloomberg News. "They feel both the desire to have an alliance with the family but also they feel strongly about the medical and scientific reasons for immunizing."
The findings of the study can be useful in providing training to the doctors on properly counseling parents on such requests. Doctors spend around 10 to 14 minutes counseling parents regarding vaccinations, but there isn't any evidence whether the communication used is effective.
The study was published in the March 2 issue of Pediatrics.
