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Vaccinations save lives.

Preventable diseases rob unprotected children of their lives. In hospital hallways around Colorado, the scene is too familiar:

A father watches as his baby boy dies of meningitis.

A two-year-old girl dies of influenza, just weeks before she was to be vaccinated.

A one-month-old baby, hospitalized with pertussis, gasps for air between episodes of coughing.

Tragically, these deaths and illnesses could have been prevented with simple vaccinations.

In addition to saving lives, vaccinations prevent the pain, suffering and disability of illness. Because of vaccinations, thousands of children live lives free of disabilities, birth defects, and mental retardation.

Between 1996 and 2005, 208 adults and 32 children in Colorado died of diseases that could most likely have been prevented by vaccinations. In 2005, the following vaccine-preventable diseases were reported among children from birth through 19 years of age:

901 cases of whooping cough (pertussis)
249 influenza-related hospitalizations
71 cases of invasive Streptococcus Pneumoniae
12 cases of invasive meningococcal disease

These diseases are also costly to treat. In 2003, the cost of hospitalization for vaccine-preventable diseases in Colorado was $10.4 million.

Vaccinations are safe.

Vaccinations must undergo years of testing before they can be licensed. Extensive information on the safety and monitoring of vaccine licensing can be found through the Centers for Disease Control's website: www.cdc.gov/nip/menus/vacc_safety.htm.

Failing to vaccinate children puts the health of your child and the community at risk.

Vaccinations save lives and improve the health of children around the world: small pox has been eradicated. Polio has decreased from hundreds of thousands worldwide to only a thousand cases a year, and global eradication of the disease is anticipated.

In Colorado, vaccinations control the spread of sixteen diseases, including diphtheria, measles, mumps, congenital rubella, tetanus and varicella (chicken pox). The Colorado Children's Immunization Coalition works to protect all of our state's children from these preventable diseases.