It's vaccination time, and most people believe the hassle is worth it to prevent a horrible disease.

Of course, you don't hear much anymore about the illnesses that vaccinations were developed to prevent: polio, mumps, tetanus, German measles. Thanks to mandated vaccinations, these diseases, which ravaged children a couple of generations ago, have been mostly eradicated in the United States.

But some parents are not convinced vaccines are safe, and they're finding ways - using religious or medical exemptions granted by the state - to avoid immunizing their children.

The reasons vary, from concerns that the vaccines made from antigens produced by disease-causing microorganisms can overwhelm a healthy child's developing immune system, to a belief in holistic, natural cures, to a general distrust of modern medicine.

Dr. Steven Lana, president of the staff at Children's Hospital, says the fears are not supported in the medical literature.

"The immune system is challenged on a daily basis by thousands of exposures to antigens just by the daily course of living," said Lana. "Introducing three, four, five strains of antigens through vaccines is really a drop in the bucket.

"The data that has been provided is enough to make me feel comfortable that vaccines are safe," said Lana.

The outcry against vaccines, however, has gotten so loud that the scientific community has stepped in to take a look. The National Medical Institute - an arm of the National Academy of Sciences - is in the middle of a three-year study to examine vaccine safety concerns. So far, the research supports the safety of vaccines.

But many people are now doing their own research. Matt Hezel and Dawn Collier-Hezel of Buffalo, who have four children, are opposed to vaccinating their children. Even as the flu season approaches and medical experts are for the first time urging flu shots for all children ages 6 months to 2 years, the Hezels will not let a needle near their children. Not for the flu, not for a vaccination of any kind.

"I am willing to stay with my children when they're sick and take care of them with alternative medicine as well as with the help of Western medicine when needed," said Collier-Hezel. "That way, I don't need to vaccinate my children and worry about the risk factors because of the vaccines themselves."

They've read government reports saying the risks are minimal, but still fear vaccines can be a trigger for children genetically susceptible to developmental problems and autoimmune illnesses.

Collier-Hezel's concerns also come from personal experience. She has multiple sclerosis, and, from research she has read, believes the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as MMR, may have contributed to it. She and her husband have received a religious exemption to sidestep New York State's Public Health Law mandating vaccinations.

Buffalo couple Patrick and Julie O'Neill will not immunize their 2-year-old son and new baby, due soon. They, like the Hezels, believe in a more holistic approach, in which as little as possible should be done to compromise the body's natural healing abilities.

"After looking at as much information as possible, we didn't find overwhelming evidence on either side, and the least invasive approach was more consistent with our philosophy," said Julie O'Neill, an urban planner and attorney.

1% of parents opt out

The number of vaccines - and total doses - children are asked to take has increased significantly in the past two decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends vaccinations against 12 diseases, administered through 22 injections, during a child's first two years. Shots are required in New York State as soon as a child begins day care, starting at 2 months. School requirements begin from prekindergarten through high school.

Nationally, the CDC reports that 1 percent of parents opt out of child vaccinations because of personal objections. The county doesn't compile statistics on why children are not vaccinated, according to Sandra Diagostino, an immunization specialist for the Erie County Department of Health, but she doubts a large percentage are due to philosophical differences.

Buffalo couple Daryl George and Dawn Lewandowski are considering joining the ranks. They have a 1-year-old daughter and have not begun immunizations for her. The couple has read books, done research, even scoured the fine print of vaccine package inserts - and still anguish over what to do.

"We don't feel a baby under a year that still has a developing immune system and is being breast-fed is ready to be overloaded with foreign antigens," said George, an engineer. "We're led to believe the antigens are benign, but I don't think we fully understand their effect on an immune system."

George fears rare side effects, and even a somewhat common one, in which some babies cry inconsolably for hours after getting immunized.

"We don't understand what a baby is going through at that point. Is it a case of "it looks worse than it is'? I think it might be that it's worse than it looks."

Dr. Richard Judelsohn, medical director of the Erie County Department of Health, and a pediatrician, says it's a matter of perception. "If you have very safe vaccines with very low incidents of side effects, and the diseases are a rarity, the side effects look worse than the disease," he said.

Judelsohn, who lectures nationally on vaccine-related issues, sees ever-improving advances into vaccines, noting the contents are purer than ever. He expects to see new combinations of vaccines that will reduce the number of times a baby's arm must be pricked. And he says ongoing studies continue to address, and ultimately dismiss theories that vaccines trigger harmful, long-lasting effects.

The results so far support the prevailing view that vaccinations are safe and that there is no evidence of a tie found by a British researcher in 1997 between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Critics find encouragement

The National Medical Institute has suggested additional studies into vaccine safety, and that has given critics like Barbara Loe Fisher encouragement.

Fisher is president and co-founder of the Vienna, Va.-based National Vaccine Information Center, a consumer watchdog organization that claims 40,000 supporters.

A former medical writer who grew up in a family of health professionals, Fisher says her 2¹/2-year-old son Chris' reaction to a dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine more than 20 years ago shook her faith in vaccines and began her crusade for further research and a reform of mandatory vaccine programs.

Fisher's organization successfully lobbied for the DPT vaccine to be removed, and it was eventually replaced by a different vaccine, DTaP. She says she hopes the National Medical Institute report will spur additional research into vaccines.

To Curtis Allen, a CDC spokesman, vaccines are a victim of their own success. "Because parents no longer see these diseases, they don't think of them as serious. But they are still circulating; even polio is in other parts of the world. If vaccine levels were to drop below certain levels, these diseases could return," Allen said.

e-mail: msommer@buffnews.com