As a pediatrician practicing in the Bay Area in the wake of the measles outbreak and the upcoming elimination of personal belief exemptions in California with the passing of SB 277, I have an important message that I want to share with all of my parents who have chosen not to vaccinate, one that I don’t want to get lost in the conversation: I think you are good parents.

You look at your beautiful, perfect two-month-old infant when I tell you that I want to inject them with vaccinations against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus, and pneumococcal, and you ask me, “Isn’t that just too much?  Won’t it overwhelm their immune system?”

I get it.  You want to do what’s best for your child.  I want the same thing.

You are right to question the safety of cell phones, of pesticides, and of processed foods.  Bring it up at our visit, and I’m happy to discuss it with you — what I think is known, and what I think is still unknown in terms of the research.  It is good to question things.  For all that Jimmy Kimmel makes you the butt of his jokes, you are being thoughtful.  You are trying to sort through all of the many potential dangers in society and figure out which are real and which are not real.

There are also some things that we accept without question.  We accept that it is good to feed our baby when she is hungry, to change her when she is wet, to swaddle him when he is cold.  We accept these things because they are basic and natural.  We accept them because when our mothers and grandmothers explain them to us during that overwhelming time when we are first starting out as parents, we trust them.

For pediatricians, vaccines are one of those basic things.  Why are they so solidly part of our basic lore?  First, because the research behind vaccines is stronger, older, and more tested than almost anything else we do in medicine.  And second, because immunizations are incredibly natural.

Here’s how they work: Show the body something that looks like polio, say a small protein that makes up part of the virus but that doesn’t make you sick, and your immune system will naturally start making antibodies against polio.  Then if your body ever does see the real polio virus, it’s prepared to fight it off.  Immunizations take advantage of what our own bodies do naturally.  They are the ultimate immune booster — an acai berry, ginger, wheatgrass super shot, if you will, and one supported by decades of research.

So let your children play in the sandbox; expose them to lots of dirt and germs naturally.  And expose them to vaccines.  Because immunizations build better immune systems.  Trust that, like you, and your mother, and your grandmother, I am looking out for your child.  I want them to grow up strong and healthy — and yes, thoughtful.

Rebecca Chasnovitz is a pediatrician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com