The most morally questionable issue regarding vaccination in Catholicism is using cell lines derived from a voluntary aborted fetus. In this article we would like to explore whether different religious beliefs are, in itself, real exception for vaccination or they are just a parents’ excuse to avoid vaccination. Compared to Hindus, Muslim children had greater chance of being under-vaccinated or unvaccinated compared with the vaccinated children. Shrivastwa et al ( 19) found religion as predictive factor of children’s vaccination status in India. Some studies show that the number religious exemptions has been increasing ( 18), leading to vaccine preventable disease outbreaks ( 10) such as mumps outbreak in a protestant orthodox group in The Netherlands.
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Religion influences decisions on vaccination ( 14- 16), and religious objection is often used by parents as an excuse to avoid the vaccination of their children ( 5, 17).
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These events triggered a worldwide debate regarding vaccination and legal exemption of vaccination and its possible consequences such as social distancing, exclusion from school during a disease outbreak, absence from work, etc ( 12, 13). One of the most usual reasons for exemption are medical reasons, followed by the religious, social, and philosophical reasons (personal belief, conscience objection) ( 3- 7).Ģ0 were marked by an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis ( 2, 8- 11). The legal systems of some countries predict legal vaccination exemptions. Many parents are seeking a legal way to avoid vaccinating their children. Pediatricians, infectious disease experts, and public health professionals ask themselves why and how “the greatest achievement of public health” became a medical procedure that frightens parents across the globe.
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However, in the 21st century, pediatric practice in the western world witnesses an era of vaccination refusal ( 2). Vaccination is considered to be one of the greatest public health achievements in the 20th century, which has helped to build a society free of vaccine preventable diseases and save lives of millions children across the globe ( 1).