Vaccinations are crucial in preventing and protecting against disease. The current measles epidemic would not be occurring if all children were vaccinated.

In the U.S. in 2000, the number of reported measles cases reached an all-time low of 86 for the entire year. The disease was considered eradicated from the country’s population.

Since December, however, a measles epidemic is ravaging the country, brought in by an unvaccinated person to the tremendous crowds at Disneyland.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), in 2014, 23 measles outbreaks were confirmed, a drastic increase since 2013 which saw only 11 cases.

In 2015, 121 confirmed cases of measles in 17 states occurred from Jan. 1 to Feb 6.

The outbreak begun at Disneyland is responsible for 85 percent of these 121 cases.

Vaccines have been scientifically proven over decades to prevent disease and not cause any illnesses or conditions, including autism.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states that “most childhood vaccines are 90-99 percent effective in preventing disease.”

This information is vital for parents as measles can be particularly dangerous for children under the age of five due to underdeveloped immune systems.

According to the CDC, “The majority of people who got measles [during the 2015 outbreak] were unvaccinated.”

In addition to protection from disease, vaccinations protect others. Measles is a “highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus,” according to the CDC, and is easily transferred through airborne bacteria. A cough or sneeze by a contagious person can infect others not only in the moment of occurrence but up to two hours later as the bacteria can live that long on surfaces.

Failure to vaccinate puts others at risk, especially young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. The lack of a vaccination is not just for one child. It’s those around the child at home, in school, at public venues such as shopping malls, the beach and sporting events.

Parents who do not vaccinate their children based on false information are socially irresponsible. They do great harm without any consideration for the ramifications of health concerns to others.

Opponents of vaccination argue that the side effects of vaccines are numerous and harmful.

Vaccines are proven to work. There is no scientific evidence proving that vaccines do any harm.

Only one child in a million is at risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction to vaccines.

Although public speculation of vaccines being linked to asthma, autism and diabetes exist, due to a now discredited study by Andrew Wakefield, who lost his license to practice medicine, there is no scientific proof that this is true. Scientists and doctors have repeatedly said that there is no connection linking vaccinations to diseases, but celebrities like Jenny McCarthy over years have repeated that their children’s conditions were caused by vaccinations.

No causal effect has ever been proven by science for such a link.

Vaccines are vital to protect all of us. Everyone should be vaccinated for such highly contagious diseases. What was once gone from the American landscape has again reared its ugly head.