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Emery Burgos being held by her mother, Cheyenne Mathiew, with nurse Ashley Stephenson in the background. (Top, right) Dr. Nicholas Bennett of Connecticut Children's Medical Center. (Bottom, right) A diphtheria vaccine. H exemption forms annually instead of once, as well as a bill that died earlier this year that would have made school-by-school vaccination data public record. "Our stance is that vaccine decisions belong between people and their health providers, and should never be forced or coerced by legislative actions," Diamond-Fields said. View from the trenches While vaccine skeptics are likely to remain, they are in the minority, and both Bennett and Ramirez say they don't run into a great deal of disagreement from parents. "We see a smattering of cases where I work," Bennett said. "ey have concerns about the ingredients in the vaccines. A lot of these concerns aren't truly legitimate concerns. People have jumped on some of these ingredients as a reason not to get vaccines." When he does encounter a reluctant parent, he says he takes time to hear their concerns so he can formulate the best response. "We need to figure out how to talk too them so their worries are addressed," Bennett said. Ramirez agrees. "From a personal standpoint, I try to understand why a defiant parent may refuse vaccines and give them the correct information regarding any questions they may have," Ramirez said. Ramirez said some pediatricians decline to accept patients who refuse vaccines because they don't want the risk of having them in their waiting rooms. "e consequences of not vaccinating can put the child at risk of some serious diseases, severe illness and even death," Ramirez said, adding that he has experienced cases where vaccine refusal led to a significant illness that required hospitalization. "I have had a couple infants contract whooping cough (pertussis)," he said. e state requires non-exempt kindergarteners to have four doses of the so-called dTaP vaccine, which prevents whooping cough. Bennett, too, has seen instances where patients got sick because they weren't immunized. "e risk of the disease is so much more than the risk of getting vaccinated," he said. While challenges remain, public health still appears to be winning the day and medical science continues to create vaccines that are helping people. e first approved vaccine for Rotavirus — a contagious virus that affects young children most severely with fever, vomiting and diarrhea — emerged in the past decade. e vaccine has resulted in a dramatic drop in hospitalization rates related to the illness. "Huge public health victory," Ramirez said. Required Vaccines School-aged children attending public or private schools in Connecticut are required to get the following immunizations: Measles, mumps, rubella Polio Diptheria, tetanus and pertussis Hemophilus influenza B Hepatitis B Hepatitis A Chicken pox Influenza Pneumonia Meningitis Source: CT Office of Legislative Research P H O T O S \ \ C O N T R I B U T E D GREATER HARTFORD HEALTH • Summer 2017 15