“I would say there’s not a large number of people here who choose not to immunize their children,” she said. “But, at the same time, we’re seeing an increase in communicable diseases.”

Kinney said increases in illnesses such as whooping cough or measles raise concerns of public health officials. “The more children who are not immunized, the higher the risk that there will be a re-emergence of communicable disease.” she said.

Other than Smallpox, Kinney said “most of the major communicable diseases have not been eradicated.” And with unimmunized children, “there’s a potential they (the diseases) could be reintroduced.”

Still while some parents object to immunization on philosophical or religious grounds, a growing number of families are choosing not to immunize their children because of a fear of autism.

“We certainly do have parents who are concerned,” Kinney said. “Particularly with parents who have autistic children. But I don’t think there’s good data to support that, nonetheless, some people are concerned, and they do have that option to decline.”

Seeking change

The problem has caught the attention of state lawmakers.

Earlier year Norman lawmaker Rep. Scott Martin, a Republican, said he talked with families of autistic children who believe their child’s autism was caused by immunizations given to the children. Martin, a relatively new father himself, said he felt the issue needed to be studied.

Martin was one of only a handful of lawmakers who voted to bring a bill to floor of the Oklahoma House which would have provided insurance coverage for autism.“As a new father these issues are very serious,” he said.

Martin wasn’t the only state official concerned by the possible autism-immunization link.

Four years ago, state Rep. State Rep. Darrell Gilbert, D-Tulsa, requested a legislative study on the use of ethylmercury-laced preservative called thimerosal used to control unwanted bacteria outbreaks in multi-dose bottles of flu vaccine.

“With what’s happening on a national level, it’s good to hear there is an effort to remove thimerosal as a preservative in influenza vaccinations,” Gilbert said in a media release issued in 2004. At that time, Gilbert noted, many families and some medical researchers “expressed concerns about a potential link between health problems, particularly autism in children, and vaccines containing thimerosal.”

Yet even with the debate surrounding the issue, Kinney said there is little, if any evidence which proves the immunization-autism link.

“The risk of your child dying of a communicable disease is probably greater than the risk of autism,” she said. And, because most immunization programs are so successful, Kinney said the benefits of immunization far outweigh the risks.