Meissner says it's "such a mistake for people not to vaccinate
according to the current schedule." He adds that "a vaccine is
not added to the vaccine schedule by FDA, CDC, AAP unless we are
absolutely convinced of the benefit of that vaccine and the
safety of the vaccine." Still, some have suggested there are
alternate ways to vaccinate children by either spacing out the
vaccines or even dropping some. "There is no "alternate" vaccine
schedule," says Dr. Paul Offit, chief of the infectious diseases
division at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, co-inventor of
a rotovirus vaccine and author of "Deadly Choices: How the Anti-
Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All." He says about 13% of parents
are choosing not to vaccine or delay vaccinating their children
and "that's a dangerous thing to do" because the vaccine-
preventable diseases can kill. Dr. William Schaffner, chairman
of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center, says "there isn't any doubt, there
are increasing exceptions