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I’m reading a book called, “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese set in the first half of the 20th century. Reading it makes me really grateful I live in modern times. At one point, one of Verghese’s characters writes about diphtheria, a bacterial infection common in the 1930s. The character, who learned English from Moby-Dick, describes harpooning some of the white barnacles in a child’s mouth and throat so the child could stop suffocating on his own mucus. Even as a pediatrician who sees sick kids all day every day, I was disturbed by this passage. I had forgotten how horrendous diphtheria can be. It can damage the heart, kidneys, and nervous system, and even with treatment, diphtheria can be deadly, especially in children. The reason most of us don’t know this is because diphtheria is one of the many childhood diseases we almost never see in this country thanks to vaccines. I worry that people choose not to vaccinate their children against preventable illnesses because they do not realize the risk they are taking and the terrible consequences their child could face if infected. Even minor illnesses cause discomfort. Severe infections from measles, mumps, bacterial meningitis, pneumonia, tetanus, varicella, and other vaccine preventable illnesses can leave some children deaf, blind, with permanent lung damage, disfigurement, and even cognitively impaired to the point that they will never be able to live independently. My grandfather’s cousin was a pediatrician like me. He said one of the scariest illnesses he ever saw was whooping cough in little babies because there wasn’t much he could do. The babies would turn blue when they couldn’t get enough oxygen and he was powerless to help them. Vaccines help children’s immune system get stronger and build immune memory against illnesses without having to suffer through exposure to the actual virus or bacteria. Different vaccines may require a different number of boosters to optimize immunity. Most of the time, we expose children’s immune systems to small amounts of antigens, pieces of the illness we’re trying to prevent. The antigens don’t cause illness but they do stimulate the immune system to build antibodies. This protects the child from infection, and by extension, anyone who comes into contact with them. Sometimes when I let parents know that we plan to administer several vaccines at once, they worry we’re overloading their child’s immune system. I assure you, we are not. Children are exposed to thousands of germs every single day via the air they breathe, the food they eat, and all the things they touch and put in their mouths. A handful of antigens will not overload their system. When a child responds to vaccines with a low fever or a little fussiness, that is an indicator of their immune system working as it should. When children are vaccinated, they can avoid the physical and emotional trauma that come with infections. Before the HIB and pneumococcal vaccines, rates of ear infections, pneumonia, meningitis were much higher. One of my relatives had recurrent ear infections as a baby in the 1980s. She was often in pain and couldn't hear very well. At age three, she got ear tubes put in, and only then was she able to fully hear and develop speech. In general, kids used to spend more time on high-dose antibiotics and in hospitals, and in severe cases, getting more medical intervention such as intubation and ventilation. Sometimes parents who prefer a natural, holistic approach to health are surprised to learn that vaccines have a naturalistic beginning. Vaccines’ roots go back thousands of years to places around the world, including in India and China. In England in the 1700s, people observed that milkmaids exposed to cowpox didn’t get smallpox, which led to the development of the smallpox vaccine. In 1900, more than 2 million people died. By the mid-1900s, thanks to a global coordinated vaccine effort, we eradicated this horrible disease. It is one of the great public health stories of modern times. In medicine, and in life, all we can do is make the best decisions we can with the information available. For my family, the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any risks. All four of my children have received their routine childhood immunizations. If you want to learn more about vaccines or any other childhood health topic, visit healthychildren.org. You’ll find many common questions are answered there. If you have additional questions, bring them with you to your child’s next appointment and have a conversation with your medical care provider. Dr. Casey Johnston is a pediatrician at MCHC Health Centers—a local, non-profit, federally qualified health center offering medical, dental, and behavioral health care to people in Lake and Mendocino Counties.