COMMENTARY -- What's up Doc: Why do I have to get all these vaccines? Published Aug. 2, 2007 By Capt. Stephen Storey 47th Medical Group LAUGHLIN AFB, Texas -- No one likes needles, and some of us can be really turned inside out by the thought of sitting still while someone pokes us. Some people wonder why their small children have to get so many shots at once. Given this indignity, the question of why we must suffer so often comes up. Actually, if you're one of those administering the vaccination lines, it comes up very, very frequently. The principles of vaccination, which we discussed previously, (http://www.laughlin.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123061427) have been applied to some very fatal diseases over the past few decades. At birth, most people are immunized against measles, mumps and others that in our grandparents' generation and prior literally devastated humanity. If they were (and are) so bad, why are we no longer familiar with these diseases? That's because most of us do not know anyone who has gotten these infections, since we are almost all immunized against them. Recently, some people have started working against such immunizations on grounds of personal reasons. However, current research has shown an increase in these devastating infections in areas where people are more easily able to opt out of crucial vaccinations. It was only slightly more than 10 years ago when meningitis was a real concern and infants as young as a month old were undergoing spinal taps and being put into Pediatric Intensive Care wards before the Hemophilus Influenza (Hib) vaccine was given. So sitting through a little shot doesn't just protect you, but also everyone around you from diseases once considered lethal plagues on humanity. If you would like to learn more about why we immunize, I recommend the following website: www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/fs/gen/why.htm.