Ohio ranks among the top five states when it comes to the number of children who receivechildhood vaccinations, but some parents are choosing to skip them over fears they will causeautism or other negative side effects.
The state's health department reports less than one percent of school-age children in Ohio havevaccine exemptions, 10TV's Tracy Townsend reported on Monday.
Parents can claim medical, religious or good conscious exemptions from immunization.
Kristopher Weiss with the Ohio Department of Health said vaccines do carry potential risk, buthe stressed the importance of their benefits.
"While every vaccine does carry some type of risk, the benefits of vaccine(s) clearly outweighthose risks," Weiss said.
Tiffany Washko chose not to vaccinate two of her three children, but she said she is notanti-vaccine. She believes immunizations pose more risk than benefit after what happened to heroldest son.
She said her son nearly died after receiving a vaccine.
"He got very sick, came home had high fevers for several days," Washko said. "At one point Itook him to the emergency room because he had a temperature of 104. From there he went into aseizure, stopped breathing and went into a respiratory arrest."
Dr. Dennis Cunningham, an infectious disease expert at Nationwide Children's Hospital, saidunvaccinated children are often hit hardest.
"We've had many kids in this hospital that have had whooping cough, which is pertussis,"Cunningham said. "Many of their parents didn't vaccinate. It's hard for that parentwhen you see your child coughing so violently their face turns blue."
Cunningham said it can also be beneficial to have as many people vaccinated as possible.
"So even if I vaccinate my children, depending on the vaccine, there might be a 5-10 percentchance the protection's not enough," Cunningham said. "That's the benefit of vaccinating multiplepeople in community."
Washko said she was aware of the risks, but recalls the reality of that first experience andremains confident it will be the last.
"I just want them to understand there are risks and that's why I've made the choice to say no,"Washko said.
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