Back to school for some means back to the doctor for a state-required vaccine.
But more and more parents in Central Texas are choosing not to vaccinate their children, and they said they are doing it because of conscientious reasons or religious beliefs.
Dr. Ronald Coleman Jr. with Providence Hospital said not vaccinating a child can put a lot of people at risk.
"As more parents take on this conscientious exemption that increases the risk and the prevalence of these diseases that we had under control," Coleman said. "Not vaccinating places that child, that family, and the community at risk for contracting those vaccine-preventable illnesses."
The doctor said those diseases include measles, mumps, chicken pox and tennis. He added that vaccines are a good way to prevent more serious diseases.
"These infections can cause anything from meningitis to encephalitis, to developmental delays to illness, cancer, even death," Coleman said.
Coleman said that parents shouldn't worry about vaccines because there is no evidence that they cause autism.
"The CDC and the FDA has done a great job of making vaccines safe for our children," he said. "There has been a lot of misinformation out there and the studies that made those associations have since been discredited. There is no evidence that shows that vaccines cause autism.
The pediatrician said that parents who want to have their children treated at Providence Hospital's pediatric center must consent to having their child vaccinated.
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