Despite a small interest group of concerned parents who believe vaccines may contribute to childhood conditions such as autism, it's clear that vaccines have changed the landscape of pediatric medicine and have prevented thousands of children from contracting diseases. For most families, children's routine immunizations are covered by their health insurance. But for those who are uninsured, or whose insurance doesn't cover vaccines, their children are at an increased risk of developing otherwise preventable diseases. Not only does contracting one of these disease affect the child and his family, but also it increases the burden on an already taxed healthcare system (more doctor's visits and hospitalizations, for example)

Fortunately, the Vaccines for Children program (VFC) helps minimize the number of U.S. children who remain unvaccinated. Passed in 1994 as a response to a measles outbreak that infected thousands of U.S. children and claimed hundreds of lives, the VFC is a federally funded entitlement program that grants free routine immunizations to eligible children. Children who are un- or under-insured, who are enrolled in Medicaid, or who are Alaskan or Native American are eligible. In most cases, the immunization is free but the doctor's office or health facility that offers the vaccine may charge an administrative fee. Most administrative fees are less than $15 per vaccine.

For more information on the Vaccines for Children program, please visit: www.cdc.gov

Just how important are vaccines? Take a look:

Disease	# Cases Before Vaccine	# Cases Since Vaccine
Paralytic polio	13,000-20,000 annually	None in W. Hemisphere
Hib meningitis	600 deaths/year in children <5	<10 deaths/year
Whooping cough	9,000 deaths/year	57 deaths from 1990-1996
Rubella (German measles)	Epidemic of 20,000 cases in 1964-65	6 in 2000
Diphtheria	206,000 cases/year in 1921	2 in 2001
Mumps	212,000 cases in 1964	266 in 2001