SOC 162 Journal entry for September 11, 2012 http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/10/private-school-parents-are-more-likely-to-opt-out-of-vaccines/?iid=hl-main-lede In this article from the Associated Press, there has been a large increase in the number of parents that have decided to opt out of having their children receive their vaccinations. Parents cited several reasons including “religious values, concerns the shots themselves could cause illness and a belief that allowing children to get sick helps them to build a stronger immune system.” Public health officials are worried by these beliefs because it not only puts the individual at risk, but it also puts the entire community at risk for allowing an outbreak or epidemic to occur. Their studies indicate that receiving the proper inoculations at the right times will allow the community to live a healthy life. To counter act this, some representatives are pushing for the approval of forcing parents to sit with a health official so that they may be properly informed on the type of vaccine that they are receiving and the good that it will do to keep people healthy. Despite these facts, many families have been unable to be dissuaded. In some cases, they took their healthy child to receive his or her required shots, but they developed certain illnesses days after their medical appointment. Parents think that the vaccine that was administered to their child caused them to grow extremely ill. Many parents attribute their children’s autism to vaccines.