It’s hard to understand why parents or adult guardians refuse to get their children vaccinated.

It’s a puzzling problem that medical experts seem unable to crack: convincing all parents that immunizing their children against diseases that we thought were long gone generations ago. There has long been a cottage industry of sorts of vaccine doubters, which has grown exponentially with the widespread advent of the internet.

Anti-vaxers, as those folks are sometimes called, can cite chapter and verse of statistics that show how dangerous vaccines are and how parents are putting their kids at risk by allowing them to be inoculated against diseases like whooping cough (pertussis), measles, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, chickenpox and meningitis.

But back in the 1800s and early 1900s, before vaccines for a host of childhood diseases were commonly available, parents would have given almost anything to protect their children from polio, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Today, with effective and safe vaccines widely available – and in fact required by law – thousands of parents every year are refusing to get their children the shots that can protect them from those childhood diseases.

Some of the diseases on the list are relatively benign, except when a family is going through them, of course.

Baby boomers can likely recall when chicken pox or measles ran through their family or a family down the street; some may even have old photos of a couple kids with their faces pumped up by the mumps.

But every one of those diseases has its own risks, such as a high fever or complications that can make them deadly, or at least a serious health risk. And who wants their child to suffer at all?

There are plenty of websites out there filled with horror stories about vaccinations and there is a substantial subculture of vaccine deniers and those who make wild – and largely unsubstantiated – claims that vaccines can cause autism or other conditions.

The fact that there is no plague of vaccine-related maladies sweeping the nation doesn’t seem to matter.

Claims from websites or self-described experts seem to carry more weight than the worldwide medical community.

If you have doubts, talk to your doctor and look up information from credible sources. Look around you at friends and family to see what their experiences have been.

Then, and only then, make an informed choice you believe is best for your child.