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Welcome to the Vaccine Education Center
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center provides complete, up-to-date and reliable information about vaccines to parents and healthcare professionals. We provide videos, informational tear sheets, and information on every vaccine.
Our resources explain how vaccines work, how they are made, who recommends vaccines, when they should be given, if they are still necessary, and, most importantly, if they are safe.
Vaccines changed medicine
Vaccines have literally transformed the landscape of medicine over the course of the 20th century. Before vaccines, parents in the United States could expect that every year:
- Polio would paralyze 10,000 children.
- Rubella (German measles) would cause birth defects and mental retardation in as many as 20,000 newborns.
- Measles would infect about 4 million children, killing about 500.
- Diphtheria would be one of the most common causes of death in school-aged children.
- A bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) would cause meningitis in 15,000 children, leaving many with permanent brain damage.
- Pertussis (whooping cough) would kill thousands of infants.
Vaccines have reduced and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations before. For most Americans today, vaccines are a routine part of healthcare.
However, the disappearance of many childhood diseases has led some parents to question whether vaccines are still necessary. Further, a growing number of parents are concerned that vaccines may actually be the cause of diseases such as autism, hyperactivity, developmental delay, attention deficit disorder, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) among others. These concerns have caused some parents to delay vaccines or withhold them altogether from their children.
For more specific information on these concerns, visit the Vaccine Safety - Hot Topics and Vaccine Safety FAQs sections of our site.
Parents PACK
The Center has also established the Parents PACK program to develop a dialogue with parents, provide frequent vaccine information, and establish a place for parents to get up-to-date information and answers to questions about vaccines. Visit the Parents PACK site or sign up for the monthly e-mail newsletter.
The Center is funded by endowments from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The Center does not receive any support from vaccine manufacturers.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the nation's first children's hospital, has been a center of vaccine research and education for more than 125 years. For example, the rotavirus vaccine, a vaccine that prevents the most common cause of vomiting and diarrhea in children, was developed at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology.
Reviewed by: Paul A. Offit, MD
Date: March 2012
Materials in this section are updated as new information and vaccines become available. The Vaccine Education Center staff regularly reviews materials for accuracy.
You should not consider the information in this site to be specific, professional medical advice for your personal health or for your family's personal health. You should not use it to replace any relationship with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about vaccinations, medications and other treatments, you should always consult your physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel.
Contact Us
We would like to hear from you. Please use our online form to contact us with questions or comments.
- Parents PACK
- Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers