Unvaccinated people account for many cases of measles, whooping cough

vaccines

Chalon Davis is happy at a Children's Mercy clinic. The 13-month-old's cheerfulness will be briefly interrupted by four shots including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. His mom believes vaccination is the right thing to do.

"I really don't understand why parents don't do it," Victoria Davis said.

Researchers wondered how much of a role vaccine refusal has played in measles outbreaks in America since 2000. They found that more than half of people who got measles had no history of measles vaccination. And in three-quarters of those cases, parents intentionally didn't get their children vaccinated because of philosophical or religious reasons.

"They may pass it to other people that also have not had their immunizations and that's what we've seen," said Dr. Elizabeth Simpson, a pediatrician at Children's Mercy.

See the full story via Fox 4.